


May The Glee Be Ever In Your Favor

by dreamcatcher (darcangell23)



Category: Glee, Hunger Games - Fandom
Genre: AU, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Hunger Games crossover, Klaine-centric, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-03 09:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 54,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darcangell23/pseuds/dreamcatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kurt Hummel from District Twelve is reaped for the 93rd Hunger Games, he's sure he's not going to live passed the bloodbath. But then he meets the male Career from District Two and falls in love in the process of forming an alliance. Unfortunately, one of them is supposed to die. Can Kurt walk out of the arena with both his life and the boy he loves? None of the events of the books ever happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reaping

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I originally started this story on fanfiction.net over a year ago, like around the release of the first movie. But it never got past chapter two. So I've taken it and revamped the whole thing, which includes an updated tribute list as I've changed some positions that I originally placed characters and switched out positions for other characters and then rewrote the whole thing and continued it. I've been working on it for the past few days and only have two chapters left to write, which are both aftermath chapters. Not all the characters listed have speaking segments in the story but they are crucial because of their position as a character.
> 
> To avoid confusion, here is a tribute list!
> 
> District 1: Sugar Motta, Sebastian Smythe  
> District 2: Rachel Berry, Blaine Anderson  
> District 3: Tina Cohen-Chang, Artie Abrams  
> District 4: Quinn Fabray, Noah Puckerman  
> District 5: Becky Jackson, David Karofsky  
> District 6: Frida Romero, Joe Hart  
> District 7: Kitty Wilde, Ryder Lynn  
> District 8: Brittany Pierce, Finn Hudson  
> District 9: Lauren Zizes, Rory Flanagan  
> District 10: Marley Rose, Mike Chang  
> District 11: Mercedes Jones, Sam Evans  
> District 12: Santana Lopez, Kurt Hummel
> 
> Also, there are no actual Hunger Games characters in this. Every position is filled with a Glee character. I'll be posting on chapter a day until the whole thing is posted. Comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

It was gloomy. Of course, on Reaping Day, it was always gloomy.

All over the country of Panem, children between the ages of twelve and eighteen were putting on their best to make the track to their local town square for the annual reaping.

This would be the ninety-third annual Hunger Games and still, it never got any easier. Every year, twenty-four children were sent to battle for survival. Every year, twenty-three of them lost their lives. Except for the fiftieth Hunger Games. That year, forty-eight children were sent to battle and forty-seven lost their lives. It was the curse of the Quarter Quell.

Every twenty-five years, there was a special Hunger Games called the Quarter Quell. It meant that there would be an added twist to the Games that year. The first Quarter Quell was long forgotten. No one could think of what it was. The second Quarter Quell had called for double the usual amount of tributes. The Third Quarter Quell had required all tributes to be reaped from the pool of victors.

Victors were the survivors, the last remaining child in each of the Games. Winning meant a lifetime of wealth for the victor and honor and food and supplies for their district.

So every year since the wars of the rebellion against the Capitol that destroyed the thirteenth district, two tributes from each of the remaining districts, one male, one female, were selected to take part in the Hunger Games. It was the Capitol's way of asserting their power over the remaining twelve districts.

This year was no different.

Kurt Hummel, a poor resident of District Twelve, the mining district, who lived with his father in a small one room home in the seam, straightened the only tie he had ever owned. It was well worn, despite the fact that Kurt had only ever worn it for reapings. He stared at himself in the mirror as he tried to make his hair look nice the best he could with no product to work with.

The Hummel family consisted of only Kurt and his father Burt. His mother had died in an accident in the woods when Kurt had only been eight. Burt had never remarried. They were all each other had.

Kurt had never questioned what his mother was doing in the woods because he had taken it upon himself to do what she had been doing for the family. Crossing the forbidden barrier to go hunting and bring in game so they had food.

Citizens of Panem were forbidden to cross over the wall and leave their districts. Travel between districts was also forbidden except in necessary circumstances. These mostly included District Seven who specialized in lumber for the entire country.

Every single time Kurt went out to hunt game, he was breaking the law. Not once had he ever been caught by the Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers were the authority in the country of Panem. They reprimanded lawbreakers.

Fearing that he had done as much as he possibly could to look presentable, Kurt turned from the mirror and glanced to his father. Burt was trying to hold himself together. Kurt was all he had left and he couldn't bear the thought of losing him to the Hunger Games.

"Ready?" Kurt asked quietly. Burt held in a sniff and nodded thickly. Kurt offered him a tiny smile. He supposed it could be worse. He could have his name entered as many times as some of the other kids.

At seventeen, Kurt was facing his second to last reaping. His name was entered eighteen times this year. Once for every year he had been eligible and twice more for the two tesserae he took out every year. Tesserae was something the poor kids could sign up for. It provided enough grain and oil for an entire year for each member of the family. One tesserae garnered enough grain and oil for one person for the year. So Kurt took out two every year, one for himself and one for his dad. As a result, his name would be entered into the reaping an additional two times. This was a total of three new entries each year as you kept the number of entries you had the previous year. At seventeen with three new entries a year, this put Kurt at eighteen entries.

He was thankful every day that it was just him and his dad. In a two person extremely poor family from the seam, eighteen was the lowest possible number of entries he could have at seventeen after taking the two tesserae entries every year.

Some kids were signing up for tesserae for families of seven people, themselves included. Kurt could not imagine being in that situation.

The pale boy lead his father into the town square and briefly hugged him good-bye before joining the line of kids looking to check in for the reaping.

"Name?" said the Peacekeeper in a bored voice as Kurt approached the table.

"Kurt Hummel," the teenager replied, holding his hand out so that the blood sample could be collected. He cringed slightly at the prick of the needle. If he got through this reaping unscathed, he would only ever have to do that one more time. He was grateful for that too.

"Eighteen entries. Move along to the second section from the front on the left side of the stage please," the Peacekeeper said. He gestured for Kurt to move off before turning to the next person behind him.

Kurt turned his eyes on his father, who was standing with the other citizens who were not eligible to be reaped, as he made his way to join the rest of the seventeen year old boys. Burt was already crying. It had always been this way. Kurt knew that ever since he had turned twelve, Burt Hummel feared Reaping Day more than any other time. The way he broke down in relieved sobs every year prior when Kurt's name had not been called, showed just how much.

Not wanting to feel the panic coming from his father in waves, Kurt tore his eyes from the man and settled himself in beside a boy who looked vaguely familiar but that he didn't actually know.

Kurt talked to few people at school. All the faces were vaguely similar and just seemed to mesh together. Some of the boys had already started working in the mines and often times, would come in with their faces smudged with dirt from afternoon shifts the previous day. Kurt would be lying if he said he was looking forward to working in the mines.

His father worked in the mines. It was nearly the only profession in District Twelve. It was what the majority of the boys were expected to do with their lives anyway because the district specialized in mining. Kurt feared for Burt every single day because working in the mines was incredibly dangerous. Accidents happened all the time and there were many fatalities as a result. Just as Burt couldn't lose his son, Kurt couldn't lose his father. They were all each other had left.

"Happy Hunger Games!" called an overly chipper voice and Kurt drew his mind from his thoughts to glance up at the stage that had been erected in front of the Justice Building. Emma Pillsbury, escort for District Twelve, stood at the mic, smiling at them all, her big brown eyes alight with excitement. They were almost brighter than her red hair.

Kurt rolled his eyes. He was still aggravated that the Capitol and so many other people took such delight in watching children fight for their lives every year. It was incredibly barbaric and really, why did they get such sick pleasure and enjoyment out of this? The pale boy swallowed the lump in his throat.

It was also no secret that Emma was appalled about being the escort for District Twelve. "They're so dirty!" she had exclaimed once. It was a well known fact that of all the districts remaining in Panem, District Twelve was the poorest. Districts One, Two, and Four were the richest.

Those three districts produced tributes that were known as the Careers. Although it was technically against the law to do so, they were often trained for the Games years in advance. It was the solitary reason why Careers won more Games than any other district. It was no secret that they pre-trained their tributes. And yet, the Capitol still seemed to turn a blind eye. Why? Simple. Because they were rich.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Emma finished her speech, all of which Kurt had missed because he had been drifting off in thought again. It wasn't like it mattered. She said the same thing every year. He'd already memorized it. "And now, the moment you've been waiting for! The choosing of the tributes! As always, ladies first."

Kurt felt himself holding his breath as Emma reached her hand into the glass bowl containing the names of all the girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen that resided in District Twelve. He couldn't fathom whose name it might be that came out of that bowl. He knew most of the girls in his class. Granted, that was more so because he was much more interested in making friends with the girls than the boys.

Emma's perfectly manicured fingers gave the papers a bit of a stir before she closed them on one and pulled it neatly from the glass bowl. Kurt noted that everyone in the square seemed to be holding their breath as she replaced the lid on the bowl and neatly unfolded the slip in her hand.

Emma cleared her throat. "Santana Lopez!" she read out to the crowd. Kurt found himself following suit when everyone turned and swiveled their heads to look at the Latina girl.

Santana was his own age, seventeen and she had a bit of a bark. She was fierce, brash, and in an odd way, protective. The daughter of the district's medicine man, if anything, Santana would be useful to ally with in need of medical attention. Unfortunately, Kurt was willing to bet she wouldn't be interested in allying with anyone, not even her fellow District Twelve tribute. They were sort of friends.

He watched along with everyone else as Santana moved from her position with the other seventeen year old girls and began her track toward the stage, head held high. No one said anything. Two Peacekeepers walked along beside her, as though they were her escort to her impending doom.

Kurt followed her up the stairs with his eyes to where she came to a stop beside Emma, standing there and glaring out at the crowd. Behind her, he could see the District's current and only living victor, Sue Sylvester, carefully eyeing the girl from head to toe. The look on the victor's face sent a shudder down Kurt's spine.

Victors acted as mentors to the tributes of their district. The district's most recent winner of the Hunger Games was laden with the job of preparing the tributes for the Games. They were in charge of making sure their tributes lasted as long as they possibly could and followed every bit of advice they gave them.

"Santana Lopez!" Emma repeated, beaming around at the crowd. "Do I have any volunteers for Santana?" she asked then. There were no replies. The crowd was silent. But Kurt was not surprised. District Twelve was not known for volunteering.

Volunteers. Should they see a reason to, another eligible boy or girl could volunteer to go in as tribute in place of the person whose name was drawn. This happened a lot in the Career districts or in the case of siblings not wanting their little siblings to go into that mess. But as far as Kurt knew, no one in District Twelve had ever volunteered for anyone.

"Very well! Men, your turn!" Emma called out happily. For a second time, Kurt held his breath as the redheaded woman reached her hand into the glass bowl.

Again, she swirled the papers inside, trying to mix them up carefully. Kurt's vision seemed to magnify as his eyes zoomed in on the small folded slip her fingers finally closed upon. A feeling of dread crept up his spine. This was the first time in the history of his eligibility that he had ever felt this way before. And by that alone, he knew. He already knew before she even had unfolded the paper.

"Kurt Hummel."

Time seemed to stop as everyone turned to look at him. He could feel eyes boring into the back of his head. His ears vaguely picked up the sound of a choked out sob he knew was coming from his father. Santana's gaze had moved directly to him.

Slowly, almost as if he was on autopilot, Kurt turned from his spot and made his way out to the aisle where the same Peacekeepers who had escorted Santana moved to either side of him as he walked forward. The feeling of eyes on him never left his being and he forced the feeling of uneasiness down. Despite being dressed, he felt oddly exposed in front of the rest of his district.

His feet felt like heavy weights as he climbed the stairs to the stage. He swallowed thickly over the rapidly growing lump in his throat. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest.

And then a commotion erupted in the square and Kurt turned his eyes to see two Peacekeepers struggling to hold his father back from crossing the barrier.

"No!" Burt cried out. "No please! Please don't take him! He's all I have left!" Kurt felt his resolve start to crumble. He absolutely hated seeing his father so hysterical. "Someone volunteer please!" The pale boy drew in a sharp breath. As much as he hoped for a miracle, Kurt knew it wasn't going to happen.

He wasn't stupid. He was well aware already that the majority of the district wanted him dead. It was clear they would be all too happy to watch him get offed in the Games. Kurt could see a few people trying desperately to hide their glee at hearing his name called. He knew the exact reason why they wanted him dead.

It was because he was gay.

Emma cleared her throat again. "Do I have any volunteers?" she asked smoothly. From his position on the stage, Kurt could see his father's eyes darting around the square in hope. But as with Santana, Emma's question was met with silence. When Burt became aware that no one was going to save his son, he became more hysterical. He fought and cried and sobbed and screamed until finally, the Peacekeepers had to knock him out cold.

Kurt swallowed back the tears beginning to form in his eyes and he turned away. Oddly, Santana slipped a comforting hand into his and he just stared at her for a moment. She gave him a knowing look before nodding her head shortly.

"Well, here they are District Twelve!" Emma's voice rang out. "Your tributes for the ninety-third Hunger Games! Santana Lopez and Kurt Hummel!" There was no applause. But a moment later, Kurt saw the square collectively raise their fingers to their lips, a symbol District Twelve had in favor of its loved ones. "Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

In the next moment, Kurt found himself being shuffled off the stage and into the Justice Building by the Peacekeepers. He caught a glimpse of Sue Sylvester out of the corner of his eye. She was watching him carefully. He suppressed the urge to shudder as he entered the building.

Now came the hardest part. Saying good-bye.


	2. The Train

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So the news at this point is that I officially completed writing this story yesterday. Yay! So now it's just post one chapter a day until it's finished and I'm considering doing other takes on a Glee Hunger Games crossover and/or one-shots from this verse. More on that later. ;)
> 
> So here is chapter two! There are three more chapters after this one before we get to the arena. So just hang tight okay? Thanks for reading guys and I hope you continue to read this as I post it! Comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

Kurt paced around the small room in the Justice Building he had been lead to. This was where he would get an hour to say good-bye to loved ones. But the truth of the matter here was that he only had Burt to say good-bye to. And with the Peacekeepers having knocked him out, he wasn't sure if he would be able to say good-bye to him or not.

His eyes moved to the fire, staring at the log burning away as the flames licked around it. He could already imagine fire licking away at the trees in the arena.

The arena.

There was no way of knowing what it was going to look like. They made a new one every single year. And it was never revealed until the day the Games officially started. The only clue tributes ever got was by the attire their stylists dressed them in on opening day.

Kurt was terrified just thinking about it. Gamemakers had come up with some crazy ideas over the years. A year that was open plain with nowhere to hide at all. Those Games were short-lived. Another year that they had no water source in the arena. Half the tributes died of severe dehydration in that one. Climate changes from snow to rain to blazing hot sun.

And there was the control of natural disasters too. Fires, floods, earthquakes, avalanches, anything you could think of that could kill people. The Gamemakers used these when there was a lack of death in the arena and they took out people that way.

He hugged himself tighter, staring into the flames. There was no way of knowing what awaited him in that arena. And a part of him was almost certain he wouldn't find out. He had this thought in his head that he wasn't even going to get away from the cornucopia. He was going to die in the initial blood bath.

The sound of the door opening interrupted his thoughts and Kurt whipped his head around. A Peacekeeper was leading his father into the room. Burt looked dreadful. His eyes were red rimmed and puffy. His face was marred with distraught. He looked twenty years older even. Kurt felt his heart ache at the sight of his father looking like this.

The Peacekeeper slipped back out the door and Burt finally looked up at his son. They stared at each other for a long moment.

"They can't do this to you Kurt," Burt finally said. Kurt forced himself to tear his eyes away, turning his head and staring down at the floor. "They can't. There has to be a way to—"

"Stop," Kurt cut him off. Burt looked at him with wide eyes. "You know as well as I do that there's nothing that can be done. My name was called. No one volunteered. So I have to go," he said. Burt continued to look at him and Kurt could see his heart beginning to break and he felt horrible but they both knew he spoke the truth. There was nothing that could be done now.

Burt opened and closed his mouth several times, as though he couldn't quite figure out the words for what he wanted to say.

"Come home to me Kurt, please. You have to come home to me," he said finally, giving his head a shake. "You're all I have now. I can't go on if you die in those Games."

Kurt cringed. He couldn't bear the thought of his father feeling like his life would end if he died in the Games. He drew a breath and moved closer, gently sliding his arms around the man in a hug.

"I'll do everything I can to stay alive as long as possible," he said, though he didn't feel even the smallest shred of confidence in his own words. But Kurt didn't dare tell his dad that. He didn't dare tell him that he was certain he would die in the bloodbath at the cornucopia. That would terrify the man.

"Please win and come back to me," Burt said, burying his face in his son's shoulder and Kurt just clutched him tighter. He said nothing. He didn't think there was anything he could say.

They hugged for another moment before the Peacekeeper came back and told Kurt it was time for his father to leave. Kurt gave the man one last hug.

"I love you dad," he said quietly, Burt swallowed and nodded his head.

"I love you too son. Remember come back to me."

Kurt watched the Peacekeeper lead his father out of the room, knowing that very well may be the last time he would ever get to see him. At least he had told him he loved him.

He wrapped his arms around himself again and stared at the floor. He wondered how Santana was doing. She had more family to say good-bye to. Her parents. Her sister. Her abuela. She probably had it harder than him but still, Kurt couldn't bring himself to try and feel strong. In truth, he felt weaker than he had ever felt before.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there before two Peacekeepers entered the room, indicating it was time to go. They escorted him out of the room and Kurt caught sight of Santana being lead as well. They were joined by Emma and Sue as they exited the Justice Building.

Cameras were everywhere as they were shuffled along to a car that would take them to the train station. Kurt had never been in a car before. He had no reason to be as he was not allowed to leave his district. He was sure Santana had never been in one either.

Sue said nothing during the short journey to the train station. Kurt found himself watching Santana who in turn was eyeing Sue. He wasn't sure what the cogs and wheels inside that woman's head were doing but he was willing to bet she wasn't about to actually help them.

Sue Sylvester was by no means sweet and kind and gentle. She was a harsh woman, harsher even than Santana. One might say she was the tough love type but Kurt doubted she had ever loved anyone other than her sister. It was a known fact that Sue's elder sister had been reaped the year Sue won the Games. She had volunteered to take her place, the only time in District Twelve history there had been a known volunteer.

It was now speculated that the anger Sue felt in light of them just taking her sister in her condition, was what had given her the adrenaline to win the Games that year. She was a legend.

But the point was that by reputation with tributes since her, she clearly did not care much to mentor them. District Twelve was known to go out fully early in the Games. It was a miracle if they even made it passed the bloodbath. But in retrospect, they were out on the first day and if they managed to survive to day two, a rarity, they were definitely taken out then.

Kurt supposed it was a good thing that the number of District Twelve tributes who had been taken out by natural disaster was extremely low. Most of them were considered easy kill and done in by a Career in the beginning. So they never made it to the first of the environmental tests.

The car made it to the train station and more cameras followed them aboard the train where Kurt was shown to his very own room. The room was larger than his entire home and Kurt marveled at the luxury of it. He had to wonder for a moment if they weren't on District One's train by mistake or something.

Kurt was given instructions to get cleaned up and meet Emma and Sue in the dining car in an hour. Being used to having to conserve water as whenever they had it they needed it to last for both him and his dad, Kurt was able to shower in record time. But he couldn't help gaping at how amazing an actual shower was with all its knobs and ability to run hot and cold as long as it liked.

He was impressed even more still when he saw the clothes they had for him. He had never seen such fashion before in his life and he dressed in a pair of white skinny jeans, a light blue button down shirt and a dark gray cardigan.

His hair had never been more easy to get to cooperate what with all the product that was available. Kurt marveled at the perfect coif atop his head. He had never looked so good in his life before.

Glancing at a clock on the bedside table, Kurt realized he had to be in the dining car in a few moments so he rushed from the room and made his way there to find Sue, Emma, and Santana already seated at the table.

"Hello Porcelain," Sue said, drinking some kind of weird looking shake concoction. "Nice of you to join us. Sit."

Kurt did as he was told and sat at the table. It was laden with a feast. Turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing and green beans. And apple pie for dessert. Kurt had never known such a luxury as this and his stomach rumbled.

But no sooner had he taken a few ravenous bites than he started to feel nauseous. Kurt wasn't used to having all this food. Santana herself was beginning to look a little green and yet she seemed content to continue eating the delicious food.

There was a mug of brown stuff in front of him and Kurt eyed it quizzically. It didn't match the darker brown stuff in the pot on the table.

"Hot chocolate," Emma said, seeing the confused look on Kurt's face. He looked up at her from glancing down at the mug on the table again.

"You mean this is melted chocolate?" he asked. Emma nodded and Kurt picked the mug up, slowly bringing it to his lips for a tentative sip. He had never tasted anything so delicious before and in moments, had downed the entire cup.

"Okay Porcelain, Tweedle Fake Boobs," Sue spoke up, startling both Kurt and Santana, the latter of which narrowed her eyes into a glare. "Here's the deal. I've decided that the two of you might actually have some potential. So, do you have any special skills?" she went on, ignoring their surprise.

Kurt and Santana glanced at each other before looking back at Sue. "Santana's actually pretty good at fist fighting," Kurt commented.

"And Kurt knows how to use sai swords," Santana said. This bit of information had Sue's eyebrows raising slightly. The two teenagers could tell that she was a bit surprised by that. Kurt looked momentarily smug.

"I'm also pretty decent with a bow and arrow too," he said. Kurt had picked up the sai swords on his own and they were his preferred weapon of choice but the bow had been his mother's weapon and she had taught him how to use it.

Sue eyed him for a moment. "Which are you better at?" she asked, sipping from her weird shake concoction.

"Personally I prefer the sais. Those are my weapon of choice," he replied. Sue nodded her head and fixed them both with a steely gaze.

"Don't let any of the other tributes see what your greatest skill is," she said. "That will be your greatest element of surprise in the arena. I want you to show that skill on the afternoon of day three of training for your presentation. It will get you your highest score," she explained.

Kurt was sure he was understanding what she was telling them. She didn't want them to use what they were best at until they were actually in the arena. He nodded his head and shoveled a bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

The rest of the meal was quiet and even the walk to watch the recap of the reapings was quiet as well. Kurt didn't know what to expect from the reapings.

District One was no surprise to him. A little rich bitch who was dressed in pink and appeared to be the type to try and pay for someone to fight for her. The male tribute struck Kurt as a vile meerkat faced boy who had an eye for the escort. He was clearly undressing the man with his eyes. Gross.

Kurt expected the same from District Two and wasn't surprised when the female tribute, who was rather tiny, seemed to eat up the spotlight. She kept smiling and waving as if she were a celebrity and the crowd was full of her fans. The male tribute however, Kurt found himself unable to tear his eyes from him.

The boy was not very tall. But he had olive skin, triangular eyebrows, and dark hair that was plastered to his head with product. He was smiling genuinely.

But that was when all hell broke loose at the District Two reaping. A man ran forward shouting the name of the male tribute. "Blaine! Blaine!" he shouted, followed by, "I volunteer!" Kurt stared stunned for a moment. He could tell just by looking at this guy that he was well over eligible reaping age. He and Santana exchanged a glance.

"Cooper you can't volunteer," the tribute - Blaine - said and Kurt found himself wanting to listen to this boy's voice for the rest of his life. "You're not eligible."

There was commotion as Cooper tried to force his way to the stage and Peacekeepers held him back. The man was too young to be Blaine's father so the only explanation was that he was his brother. Kurt felt sort of bad for him.

District Two's coverage gave way to District Three and Kurt was disgusted to learn that the male tribute was in a wheelchair. Seriously, they were going to make this kid fight for his life? How did they expect him to do that? The female was of Asian descent and she looked terrified.

Of course, District Four had two incredibly attractive tributes, it was the fishing district after all so they spent much of their time on the beach. And it was also the last of the Career districts. A tall built guy with a mohawk on his head and a pretty blonde girl Kurt was sure he would have been all over if he wasn't gay.

The tributes for District Five could not be any more opposite. The boy was a big burly chubby boy with a hard face. He looked like he thought he was powerful, which made sense because District Five was the power district. The girl, a small blonde with short hair wearing glasses set Sue into an outrage and the woman started muttering about how the Capitol hadn't learned their lesson after what had happened with her sister.

District Six's tributes weren't really that memorable. They'd probably be gone quickly. The girl was Latina like Santana and her name was Frida or something. She had volunteered to take her younger sister's place. The boy would be more memorable with his dreadlocked hair.

District Seven consisted of a female tribute who looked like she could be the sister of the girl from District Four. Her name, Kitty Wilde seemed fitting because she looked like she meant business. The male tribute was a brunette boy who Kurt was sure he heard girls sobbing over in the background. He must have been popular. Kurt didn't catch his name. Lynn or something.

The tributes of District Eight both appeared completely clueless. The blonde girl was incredibly daft, skipping and giggling and cheering when her name was called. Kurt got the impression she didn't exactly know what she was getting herself into. He caught Santana unable to take her eyes from her. The boy was freakishly tall but looked like he was the humble I believe in you type. He also looked like he was a black hole when he ate. Though Kurt didn't think that was relevant.

District Nine had two very different tributes as well. The female, like the girl from District Six, volunteered to take her sister's place in the Games. She was a big girl who looked like she could give Santana a run for her money in a physical fight. She had brown hair and wore glasses. The male was a brunette boy with a very heavy accent. It sounded like he didn't even come from Panem.

District Ten, the livestock district, had two kids who looked like they were fairly friendly people. The brunette girl was biting her lip nervously and Kurt didn't think she was all that confident. He merely caught her first name. Marley. The male was of Asian descent like the the female of District Three. He showed off his apparent dance skills for the camera.

Kurt felt sorry for the tributes of District Eleven, the last reaping before his own. A blonde boy with big lips and a dark skinned girl who both looked at each other with tears in their eyes and clutched one another's hands tightly. Kurt got the sense that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and now they were expected to kill each other. Well, they likely wouldn't kill each other because often tributes from the same district had each other's back but still.

And then they showed the coverage of District Twelve and Kurt was outraged when they thought it was necessary to show his father's breakdown at him having been picked. He didn't like seeing his father knocked out by Peacekeepers again. But than, they showed what that boy from District Two's brother did. So he probably should have expected this.

"So, did you catch them all Panem?" came Will Schuester's voice as the camera cut back to him. He was the host of the Hunger Games events. "Here's a short recap!" Pictures began flashing across the screen then. "From District One, Sugar Motta and Sebastian Smythe! From District Two, Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson!" Kurt felt his heart swell at the boy's name. "From District Three, Tina Cohen-Chang and Artie Abrams! From District Four, Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman! From District Five, Becky Jackson," and here Sue growled, "And David Karofsky!" Kurt did not like the sound of that boy. "From District Six, Frida Romero and Joe Hart! From District Seven, Kitty Wilde and Ryder Lynn! From District Eight, Brittany Pierce and Finn Hudson! From District Nine, Lauren Zizes and Rory Flanagan! From District Ten, Marley Rose and Mike Chang! From District Eleven, Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans! And from District Twelve, Santana Lopez and Kurt Hummel!" It was weird to hear his own name come out of Will's mouth. "That's all tonight Panem! Those are your tributes this year! Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

The TV was switched off and Sue, still looking a bit angry turned to look at Kurt and Santana.

"These kids are your competition but I want neither of you to touch the girl from District Five, do you understand me?" They glanced at each other before slowly nodding their heads. "Good. I will not have my own tributes responsible for the death of that poor girl. Anyone else is fair game!"

Kurt swallowed. "Including the boy in the wheelchair?" he asked quietly.

"Including Wheels," Sue replied. "Now go to bed. Both of you! We arrive in the Capitol in the morning." Kurt and Santana watched her sweep from the room, both of them still sitting there, trying to absorb what they had just watched.

Santana bit her lip, something very unlike her. "I don't think I could bring myself to hurt the girl from District Eight," she said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Kurt had only to look at her to understand what she meant. "I feel the same way about the boy from District Two," he said. "He may be a Career but he sure doesn't look like he acts like one," he went on. Santana nodded her head knowingly.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go to bed."

The two of them got up and headed off to their rooms for sleep. The last thing Kurt thought about as he allowed his eyes to drift shut was the boy from District Two.

Blaine.


	3. The Tribute Parade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! Chapter three! Like I said this is a revamp of a story I started on fanfiction.net over a year ago so if you happened to read it there, elements of this chapter may be familiar to you as I didn't change everything about it. It has been rewritten and extended and had content added and one of Kurt's prep team has changed so I could the original person elsewhere, but for the most part, his outfit is the same as it originally was, his stylist is the same person, and Sue's first reaction is the same as in the original.
> 
> Enough about that though. Just pointing out it may be a little familiar if you read the original work. Remember comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Kurt was greeted the next morning with the sights of the towering city as the train rolled into the Capitol. Capitolites were crowded at the station cheering and waving and anxious to get their first official looks at this year's tributes.

Santana's eyes were wide as saucers as she stared out of the windows. Neither of them had ever seen so many people in one place before and Kurt was kind of overwhelmed.

On the other hand, he was appalled at the way the Capitolites were dressed. Did they really think that stuff was fashionable? They had funky colored hair and dyed skin and strange hairstyles and off the wall clothing in bright colors that just did not match. Not to mention some of them were covered in glitter and overdone makeup and it was just really bad. Kurt wrinkled his nose.

"What's wrong Hummel?" Santana asked from her spot by the window. The two hundred and fifty miles an hour train was beginning to slow down now that they were streaming into the heart of the Capitol.

"These people need a serious fashion makeover," Kurt replied, causing Santana to snort and roll her eyes.

When the train finally pulled to a stop, Kurt once more found himself at the center of attention of the cameras. They were everywhere. Capitolites were cheering for them and he had to wonder why. No one ever expected anything out of District Twelve, except for them to die.

They were shuffled along into the building known as the Remake Center. Kurt didn't have a clue why it was called that but he was about to find out.

Kurt and Santana were separated and Kurt found himself shoved into a room where three people, two women and a man, quickly stripped him of his clothes. The boy felt ridiculously exposed and tried desperately to cover himself up with his hands and arms. Unfortunately, that didn't do much good.

The man grabbed him and forced him into a tub where he proceeded to scrub at Kurt's porcelain skin so fiercely the seventeen year old was quite sure he was trying to polish and make it shine. It stung the way he scrubbed at him. Kurt eventually learned that his name was Elliott and the two women were April and Shelby. They were his prep team.

It seemed like an eternity before Elliott had finished scrubbing his body with whatever it was and Kurt felt like a gleaming porcelain doll. He was pulled out of the bath and ushered into a thin silk robe, made to sit on a table where April began on a manicure and Shelby started rubbing all kinds of creams and lotions into his skin. He didn't really mind either of these things too much. He was getting pampered for once in his life and he absolutely loved it.

The three of them were chattering away, placing bets and talking excitedly about the Games. Kurt felt sick to his stomach. Why the hell did people enjoy this so much? Didn't they care that children were going to die? Obviously not. This was like the Super Bowl in the old world. Kurt wanted to say something but felt it was smarter if he kept his mouth shut.

Moments later, a tall thin blonde woman entered the room. She was smiling and carrying a garment bag. Kurt was pleased to see that other than silver eyeshadow she had on her eyes, she looked decently normal.

"Hello Kurt," she said to him politely and Kurt decided that he was going to like her. "I'm Holly, your stylist." He offered her a small smile as his prep team moved away for Holly to step in. "Let's get you ready for the parade now shall we?" she asked.

Right. The parade. The tribute parade was like the opening ceremony of the Games. The tributes were paraded out in front of the Capitolites, riding in chariots and dressed in outfits that represented their districts.

Kurt was willing to bet that just like every year, the tributes from District Four would just be nearly naked. The thought caused a blush to cross his face.

But it was shoved out of his mind a moment later as he remembered that District Twelve was always dressed as miners and his face fell. That was certainly one way to make sure they did not get noticed. He was not looking forward to being dressed like a miner.

But he was pleasantly surprised when Holly pulled him into another room and unzipped the garment bag. Inside was a two color skintight leather jumpsuit. It started as gray at the bottom and burned or blended nicely into black by the time it reached the top.

Holly laughed. "Not what you were expecting?" she asked. Kurt shook his head as he stared at the jumpsuit, trying to figure out exactly what it was going to turn him into.

"Not really no. Forgive me but I expected to be dressed as a miner. That's what the District Twelve tributes have always been dressed as," he replied.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Yes well, that was before I became their stylist," she said with a smile and Kurt's eyes widened. So Holly was new this year. "And I asked to work for District Twelve." The more he chatted with her, the more he found he really liked Holly. She actually wanted to be the stylist for District Twelve. No one ever wanted to work for District Twelve.

"I like you," he said shortly, causing her to laugh.

"Well thank you Kurt. I like you too. Let's get you into this, yeah?"

Kurt allowed Holly to strip the robe from his body and help him into the suit. It was comfortably snug after she zipped it up over his body. And he had to admit, glancing in the mirror, the outfit did accentuate his hips and his perfect ass. He may have been just a little bit conceited.

"Yum," Holly said, eyeing him in the suit and Kurt couldn't help the blush that crossed his face. "You'll be eye candy in this. It shows off your body in all the best places. If you make the girls swoon, they'll want to keep you alive because they'll want some of that ass," she went on, slapping him on the ass unexpectedly. Kurt blushed harder.

"So, I'm meant to look sexually appealing?" he asked hesitantly, turning this way and that as he stared at himself in the mirror.

Holly smiled at him and winked. "People want what they can't have. Make yourself desirable and they'll work their asses off to keep you alive," she told him. Kurt thought she had a fair point but it still made him blush. He had never thought of himself as sexually appealing before.

"I suppose that makes sense," he said.

"Of course it does sweet cheeks," Holly replied, winking again and picking up a bowl of something from a table. "Now close your eyes please. I'd feel terrible if I got any of this in your beautiful blues and greens and grays." Kurt blushed yet again and did as he was told.

Once his eyes were shut, Holly started to brush some sort of powder all over his face. She proceeded to over gloss it with oil, which he could feel slippery on her fingers as she rubbed it over his face.

"There. You can open your eyes now." Kurt did and looked directly into the mirror. His face was powdered completely black and it had been glossed over with oil to make it seemingly shine.

"What am I going to be?" he asked as Holly set to work on his hair. She was smiling softly as she went about perfecting the coif on the top of Kurt's head and Kurt was quite pleased with how well she knew exactly how his hair looked best.

"Well," she replied, picking up what appeared to be an iron grill crown and carefully placing it atop his head. "When I add the last effect," she went on, picking up a small device and smiling at him, "Which I will when you're about to go out to the crowd, you're going to hopefully look like a burning coal."

Kurt was pleasantly surprised. What a unique idea. This time, District Twelve was not going to be the miners but rather what they were mining. It was brilliant and it was certain to draw attention to them for the first time in he didn't know how many years.

"So, the crown's going to be on fire?" he asked, staring at it in the mirror. Holly nodded her head.

"Yes, but you'll feel nothing more than a warm tickle," she assured him. "We better get you downstairs though. Your chariot awaits." Kurt couldn't help but laugh as he followed her out of the room and they started heading for the elevator where they met up with Santana and her stylist, David Martinez. She looked exactly the same as Kurt did.

"What do you make of this?" Santana asked as the four of them got into the elevator. Kurt smiled at her.

"Holly says we're going to be burning coals," he told her. Santana was slightly surprised.

"Well, that definitely beats being miners," she said and he nodded his head in agreement. There would be no qualms this year. District Twelve would actually stand out and make a lasting impression on the Capitol. It was the first step toward making sure District Twelve had a much better chance in the Games this year. And for the first time, Kurt felt a little shred of hope.

The elevator doors opened on the ground floor and Holly and David shuffled Kurt and Santana out to where Sue and Emma were waiting for them by a chariot that was hitched to two charcoal horses. Sue looked bored. Her eyes were on her own nails instead of watching for her tributes. Emma however, smiled so widely she could light up the entire room.

"Oh you two look fantastic!" she cried out. That was all it took for Sue to look up with an impressed look on her face. The woman turned to Holly and David and gave them a nod.

"Well done Holly Hobby," she said, turning back to Kurt and Santana. "All right Porcelain, Tweedle Fake Boobs," she went on and Santana scowled at her. She was clearly not all right with the nicknames. "Smile, wave, blow kisses, act in love for all I care. Just get their attention," she told them before turning to start walking off. She paused and looked back at them for a moment. "Maybe shake your hips and ass a little bit Porcelain." That said, she continued walking away.

Kurt was beet red and fortunately for him, Santana couldn't comment on it because she couldn't see it under the black powder. "What the hell was that?" she asked instead. Kurt merely shrugged.

"Not a clue. Hate to say it but if that's her way of mentoring us to make sure we don't die, I think we're screwed." Santana didn't even want to disagree because unfortunately, Kurt was probably right.

Kurt turned to the horses and started stroking the mane of one of them. Holly was making sure that the device to start the flames had batteries or something so he momentarily tuned himself out. That was until someone tapped him on the shoulder. Kurt spun around to come face to face with the boy from District Two. Blaine Anderson. And he looked dazzling in a stone gray suit to represent masonry. He had a stone crown on his head though and that threw off the effect a bit.

"Hi!" Blaine chirped rather cheerfully. And Kurt was surprised because well, Careers just didn't talk to those from District Twelve. In fact, they rarely talked to anyone who wasn't a Career.

"Um…hi," Kurt replied hesitantly, a light blush blooming on his cheeks. This boy was seeing him in a skintight leather jumpsuit that showed off his best assets. What a way to meet for the first time.

"You're from District Twelve, aren't you?" he asked and Kurt nodded. The boy smiled and stuck out his hand. "I'm Blaine Anderson."

And Kurt almost forgot how to breathe as he took a hold of the proffered hand to shake. A Career was being friendly to him and introducing himself and this just had to be a dream because he was gorgeous.

"Kurt Hummel," he said, not sure how he managed to find his voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt noted Santana had struck up a conversation with the girl from District Eight so he figured this couldn't be all bad.

Blaine opened his mouth to reply when he was stopped by a very rude interruption. "Don't ally yourself with such filth as that. I'm surprised that's make-up on his - or is it her - face and not dirt." Kurt was so glad for the black powder on his face because it so far had covered up all the blushing.

To his credit, Blaine turned and put his hands on his hips. "I'd rather ally with him," and he put emphasis on the word, "Than stuck up Careers who are only out for blood," he said. Kurt was astounded. Wasn't Blaine a Career?

The boy, who Kurt now recognized to be the male tribute from District One, and who was clad in a sparkling white tux, snorted as though he thought Blaine's words were a joke. He reached out a finger and ran it teasingly down Blaine's chest and for some reason, Kurt felt his temper flare. Good God he wanted to end this boy's life right there. He held himself in check.

"You are a Career Blaine," the boy drawled. "You'll be just as blood thirsty as the rest our pack. Do what you're expected to do and ally with your fellow Careers." He threw a look back toward Kurt. "Otherwise, I guarantee you won't make it even close to the end." Hands in his pockets, he turned and walked away.

Blaine looked back at Kurt apologetically. "I hate him," he said slowly. "He's been trying to hit on me all night." Kurt frowned slightly and gave his head a shake.

"Don't worry about it," he said, noticing Holly heading toward Santana and taking that to mean they were meant to climb into the chariot. "You better get back to your chariot and district partner. I suspect we'll be starting soon."

Blaine looked reluctant to leave but nodded his head anyway. "Okay. See you at training tomorrow if not after the parade?" he questioned gently and Kurt couldn't help smiling the softest of smiles.

"I'd like that," he said quietly as Holly and Santana approached him. Blaine smiled and waved before making his way over to his own chariot, ten chariots ahead of Kurt's.

"Allying with a Career Kurt?" Holly asked. He turned to face her. She had a knowing look on her face and Kurt was once again glad that the powder hid his blush. She smiled at him. "He's a looker, isn't he?" she asked. Kurt didn't reply.

Holly ushered them both onto the chariot as a gong rang out and music began to play. Even from his position in the procession, all the way at the back, Kurt could see the girl in District One was wearing a white sparkly dress to match the tux of the meerkat faced boy. It was way too showy in his opinion.

He listened to the applause and cheers and level of the crowd rise and fall depending on the district riding along in front of them. Santana leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"I think we should ally with Eight," she said. Kurt turned to look at her, not understanding why that was, except that she possibly wanted to get closer to the girl from Eight. "I'll explain later," she muttered then as both of them noticed that Ten had just moved into the procession heading toward the city circle.

It was as Eleven was pulling out, who Kurt noticed were dressed as a tree and an apple - what a way to represent agriculture - that Holly came over to them with a smile.

"Here we go," she said, flipping something on the device in her hand. Instantly, the iron crowns on their heads burst into flames and Kurt was pleasantly surprised to find that it did just feel like a warm tickle. "Remember, smile and wave! Get yourselves noticed!" Holly called out as their chariot began to trundle forward to join the procession.

And then they passed through the doors and Kurt had to blink a few times to adjust to the bright lights. All around them the Capitolites sat looking on. He heard nothing but shocked silence for a moment so he took Holly's advice and smiled at the crowd, raising his hand to begin waving and though she was more reluctant to do so, Santana mimicked him. Almost instantly, the crowd burst out into deafening cheers.

Kurt turned his head slightly and saw his own face beaming down at him from one of the screens. A blaze of orange was flickering atop his head and he and Santana truly looked like a burning coal spectacle. It was absolutely amazing!

Their chariot pulled into the city circle, rounding off the last of the double half-circle of chariots that was already formed there. Kurt briefly caught Blaine glancing at him with a soft smile from his place on the other end of the half-circle in the first row. Unfortunately, he also caught the boy from District One glaring in his direction as well. Kurt turned his eyes forward to the podium where President Figgins was standing, deliberately trying to divert his attention.

"Happy Hunger Games!" President Figgins began. Kurt tried to pay attention to the man's speech but it was the same one he gave every year. And really, the accent he spoke in was annoying and sometimes hard to understand. "…And may the odds be ever in your favor!" he finally heard him close. It was kind of unnerving how the man never seemed to stop staring directly at him and Santana.

"Is it just me, or does President Figgins keep staring at us?" Santana whispered to him. So she had picked up on it too.

"If it's an illusion, than we're both hallucinating," Kurt replied. She gave a short nod of her head.

The chariots began to move again, carrying the tributes off to the bottom level of the Training Center building. Kurt felt the flame on his head go out and he slid from the chariot to see both stylists, Emma, and surprisingly Sue making their way over to them, the first three with big smiles on their faces.

"You guys did amazing!" Holly exclaimed. Kurt couldn't help but to beam at her.

"Well done Porcelain, Sandbags," Sue stated. "You got the most praise of anyone. Just keep doing what you're doing and you might just live passed day one." She disappeared again, leaving Kurt and Santana frowning slightly.

"Don't listen to her. She's just grumpy," Emma said. "You guys were great. Time to go upstairs for food and sleep," she added clapping her hands.

They headed toward the elevator and Kurt suddenly found someone grabbing his arm and pulling him away for a brief moment.

"I just wanted to say that you looked absolutely stunning out there Kurt," Blaine said and Kurt could feel his cheeks heat up as he turned around to face the boy. Blaine was smiling at him.

"Thank you," Kurt managed softly. "You were amazing too Blaine." Blaine laughed.

"Kurt you couldn't even see me," he pointed out. Kurt just grinned.

"You were still amazing," he replied in a gentle voice. Blaine was blushing now and Kurt felt his mission was accomplished. "I'll see you in training tomorrow," he said, throwing Blaine a wink and turning to join the rest of his team who were holding the elevator open for him.

"I'll make you a deal Hummel," Santana said when they were in the elevator climbing the floors to their level. "We can ally with the hobbit, if you agree to ally with Britts."

"Britts?" Kurt questioned, looking at her and raising an eyebrow. Santana rolled her eyes.

"Brittany, the girl from Eight," she said in a tone that suggested he should have known that. The elevator dinged just then and Kurt opened his mouth to reply as they stepped off but he was stopped for two reasons.

One, the living space for District Twelve with absolutely luxurious and Kurt couldn't believe he would get to live there for a few days. And two, had Santana just indicated she actually wanted to ally with him? They'd talk more on that later.

At the moment, they were being hurried to the dinner table. Apparently, training would start early and they needed sleep. Kurt was surprised to find Sue already waiting for them at the table. She was digging in and someone was filling their drinks for them.

"First things first, remember what I told you. Do not show your skills in training. Do show them in your presentation to the Gamemakers," she started in as soon as they had sat down. "Best to keep your enemies guessing and not knowing what you're capable of." Kurt and Santana could admit that this was so far the best advice they had gotten from their mentor. "And secondly, do you want to train together, or separately?"

This was a tough decision. It was likely most tributes would train with their district partner, but the issue with that was that you would both learn the same skills and if that was the case, you'd be screwed if you stuck together and wound up in a bind with something you didn't train for.

On the other hand, there was no telling whether later your district partner would turn on you and if you separated for training and met up against them with something they could do and you couldn't, you were done for. So really, there was no way of knowing which was the wiser decision.

"Together," Santana said a few moments later and Kurt looked at her for a moment. "This way we're equal. If we end up having to fight each other at all, we'll be evenly matched so it will at least be a fair fight and really, whoever wins would have just had luck on their side." She did have a point.

"And I suppose if we get split, we can ally with people who might have trained in other skills," Kurt added. Santana nodded her head. "All right, together than," he agreed.

Sue nodded, took one last bite of the chicken on her plate and left the room. Kurt still wasn't sure what to make of her. But he really didn't have time to think about it as his mind was consumed with thoughts of the training and Blaine. He ate the rest of his dinner and headed off to bed, Holly having helped him out of the costume before the meal, too tired to really take in his luxurious sleeping quarters.

The next day would be the beginning of a reality Kurt had been having trouble wrapping his head around. He drifted into a fitful sleep.


	4. Training And Scores

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have chapter 4! The training chapter and well, if you are a little concerned about Kurt and Blaine hooking up so fast, just remember that in this verse, they don't have time to fall in love slowly. They could be dead in a matter of days. Anyway, you may notice some similarities to the book in this chapter but I felt they were necessary that way. Comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

As expected, Kurt was raised bright and early for his first day of training. He wasn't sure what to expect out of it and tried not to think much about it as he slipped on the comfortable gray shirt and pants with red trim Holly had laid out for him. He was about to protest the attire but then remembered he would need to be comfortable to move around because he was training to kill people.

That thought sent a shudder up his spine. Kurt didn't want to kill anyone if he could help it. He didn't like the idea at all. Killing people was just flat out wrong and demented. And he was quite sure that he knew of at least one person who would willingly kill somebody. Another shudder went up his spine as he made his way out for breakfast.

"Good morning Porcelain," Sue stated from her seat at the table. Again she was drinking some weird shake concoction. Santana was already seated, picking at some eggs on her plate. She was dressed in exactly the same clothes he was and Kurt got the feeling it was going to be the same for the rest of the tributes.

He yawned as he took his seat at the table and started pulling breakfast toward him. It was quiet as he started to dish himself up. It was when he was about to take his first bite that Sue spoke again.

"Word on the street is that a Career wants to ally with you." Kurt froze with the fork partway to his mouth, his cheeks tinged pink.

"Oh, well I don't know about that," he said, putting his fork down and nervously rubbing at the back of his neck.

Sue watched him for a moment. "I do," she said finally, standing from the table. "I think it's an excellent idea. Might keep you a bit protected. Make the alliance Porcelain." Those words said, she turned on her heel and headed out of the room.

Kurt turned to look at Santana who was still pushing eggs around her plate. "Does she always do that?" The Latina shrugged and Kurt could sense something was wrong. "What's going on Santana?" he asked.

When she looked up, the pale boy was surprised to see that she had been crying. He blinked rapidly, wondering just how much this was finally starting to get to her. Santana Lopez didn't cry. She went into things tough as nails, head held high, and fierce. But now she looked no tougher than a kitten.

"It's really happening, isn't it?" she asked, voice uncharacteristically quiet.

"What is?" Kurt pressed.

Santana dropped her fork and looked at him. "We're going to our imminent doom in a few days." Kurt frowned. So that was it. Santana had been playing this off like it wasn't actually happening and just like it had with him, reality had finally caught up to her.

"Don't say that," he said.

Her expression hardened and she pounded her fist on the table, startling him as he jumped a bit in his seat.

"Don't say that?! I don't know if you realized this Hummel but the point of these Games is that there can only be one winner!" she shouted, standing from her chair. "That means we have to face facts! By the end of this, at least one of us will be dead!" She slammed her hand down on the table palm flat and Kurt just stared at her.

The commotion had drawn Emma, Holly, and David into the room and they were all looking on with wide eyes. Sue seemed to have vanished again. Either that or she didn't care about coming out to see what was going on.

"Santana," Emma said calmly. "Take a few deep breaths okay?" The Latina rounded on her.

"No I will not take a few deep breaths! Here we twenty-four tributes are facing our possible death in a few days and here you Capitolites are taking bets and prancing around excitedly like it's some holiday!" she shouted at her, slamming her hand again. It had to be red by now. "Get a grip! You're sending innocent children to fight for their lives and teaching how to kill people just for fun! Children! I'd like to see you Capitolites throw your own children in there and still call it fun and games! You act like district children are disposable!" she continued, punctuating every sentence with a slam to the table. "Well we're not! We have families and friends who love and care about us just as much as you guys have families and friends who love and care about you! I bet you didn't even realize that Kurt's dad is all he has left in the world! If Kurt dies, his dad has no one!"

Dropping back down into her seat and breathing heavily, Santana ended her rant. No one said anything. Emma's already wide brown eyes were even wider than normal. David looked taken aback and Holly seemed like she had been expecting it or something.

Kurt didn't know what to do. He cautiously reached out a hand and gently moved it soothingly over Santana's back. She did not flinch away from his touch. She was sobbing quietly, hands going to her eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to you Santana," Kurt finally said quietly. She sniffed and shook her head, looking up at him.

"No Kurt," she said. "If one of us has to survive, it has to be you. Your dad can't lose you. You're all each other has," she went on and Kurt stared at her astounded. He had never seen her so sincere in all the time he'd known her.

Breakdowns weren't unheard of when it came to the Hunger Games. Some people speculated that it was what made some tributes into blood thirsty killers. The very reality of what they were being forced to do. Of being chosen at random to fight for your very life. Kurt was glad Santana was having hers now. Maybe it would help her keep her head in the arena.

"Promise me something Kurt," Santana went on and because she was using his first name, he knew this was really serious. He merely looked at her for a moment before gripping her hands in his.

"Anything," he said in a whisper, rather afraid of what he might be agreeing to promise her.

"Promise me that you won't put yourself in harm's way to save my life," she said, voice still unusually quiet. Kurt stared at her with wide eyes.

"You, you don't want me to do anything if you're about to be killed?" he asked her incredulously.

Santana let out something of a snort mixed with a sob. "I didn't say I didn't want you to do anything. I said I didn't want you putting yourself in the line of fire instead. In short, don't jump in front of me or shove me out of the way." She paused and looked directly in his eyes. "And if those are the only two options to save my life, than yes, don't do anything."

He stared at her for a long moment. Santana may be harsh but she didn't play around and though he didn't like what she was saying, he knew she was dead serious, no pun intended.

"Okay," he finally said after a moment, nodding his head. "I promise. But if there's a way I can save you without getting in the line of fire, I will," he said defiantly.

It was at that moment Sue reappeared. "I hate to break up this little pow wow but you two need to be down at the gym pronto."

Kurt and Santana both glanced up at the clock and flew up from the table, Kurt grabbing a couple of slices of toast as he went because he hadn't actually been able to eat anything.

The two of them raced to the elevator and jabbed the button to go down. It seemed to take an eternity to arrive but finally it dinged and they were able to get in and head on down to the gym, Kurt munching on his toast as they went.

Not to anyone's surprise, they were the last to arrive and Kurt felt someone slap a number twelve on his back. Well, that certainly wasn't lame at all.

He and Santana joined the group of tributes surrounding the head trainer. Blaine caught his eye and threw Kurt a small smile, which Kurt returned in kind.

"You can spend as much time or as little time as you want at each station," the head trainer, Dani, was saying. "But remember, no sparring with fellow tributes. Save the actual fighting for the arena," she went on. "Are we clear?" They all nodded. "Good. Have at it!"

"What do you want to do first?" Kurt asked Santana. She looked around at the stations for a moment before turning to him.

"Let's start with survival and do weaponry after lunch," she said. Kurt nodded his head and the two of them head for the fire making station.

Kurt was well underway trying to start a fire and having little luck, when he felt the tap on his shoulder. Santana was fairing better and she didn't look up but Kurt turned to see Blaine standing there smiling down at him.

"Hey," Blaine said. "Need some help?" he asked, kneeling down beside him.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You know how to start fires?" Blaine looked scandalized as though Kurt thought that he didn't know anything because he was a Career but he ended up laughing it off.

"I know a lot more than people think I do," he said with a wink. "Let me show you."

With Blaine's help, Kurt managed to learn how to decently build a fire and well, he was just really grateful for Blaine at that moment. He was certain they could probably be allies in the Games. But that was about to become an issue as the boy from District One slinked over to them.

Grabbing Blaine roughly by the arm, he yanked him up. "Come on Blaine sweetie," he said and Kurt didn't miss the cringe on Blaine's face at the term of endearment. "Filth does not need help. He'll be dying in the bloodbath anyway. I'll make sure of it."

Before Blaine could counter or say something in Kurt's defense, Sebastian was already dragging him away from the station.

"You okay?" Santana asked, noticing Kurt watching the two of them with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah," he replied, standing up. "Come on, let's go to the knot tying station." So they did and they learned how to tie knots. And Kurt tried not to think about the exchange.

He didn't get to talk to Blaine again for the rest of the morning though. The District One boy kept him dangerously close to his side, though Blaine looked completely uncomfortable there.

Kurt and Santana spent the rest of their morning training session in the survival stations, going through them all and recycling around so they could really get things down. Santana breezed through the medical station with no problem at all and Kurt was good with setting traps and making shelter.

Lunch arrived and the tributes sat around the gym eating. The tributes from District Eight came and joined Kurt and Santana at their table. He already knew the girl's name was Brittany but the boy, who was that freakishly tall kid Kurt remembered from the reapings turned out to be named Finn. They were both fairly nice and Kurt didn't think it would be a problem to ally with them.

"So, you're a dolphin than Kurt?" Brittany asked and Kurt paused mid-bite of his sandwich, staring at her with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, glancing to Finn who merely shrugged and grabbed another sandwich. Kurt had been right when he thought the boy would be a black hole eater.

"A dolphin," Brittany replied simply. "You know, a gay shark?" Kurt just stared at her for a moment.

"Did you just ask me if I'm gay?" he deadpanned after a moment.

Brittany looked confused. "Isn't that what I said?" she asked. Kurt turned to Santana with a pleading expression on his face for her to save him. But she didn't have to because somebody else did it for her.

"Kurt?" The pale boy looked up at the sound of the voice that was very familiar to him by now. Blaine was standing there, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck. Santana smirked and started chatting with Brittany to keep her distracted. Finn seemed oblivious to anything going on. Actually, his eyes were focused on the girl from District Two, who happened to be Blaine's partner.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt said breathlessly, drawing a smile from the other boy.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Blaine asked. Kurt glanced back at the table before nodding and standing from his seat, taking his sandwich with him. Blaine lead him to an area where no one else was around and bit his lip and God it looked so good.

"What is it Blaine?" Kurt asked and Blaine smiled at him.

"I was wondering if you wanted to be allies in the Games," he said and Kurt felt his heart swell triple times because yes, yes he wanted to be allies with this boy. Not able to find the words, he slowly nodded his head and the smile on Blaine's face only grew. "Meet me on the roof tonight," the curly-haired boy suddenly blurted, clapping a hand to his mouth.

Kurt drew a breath in surprise, the gasp coming out awkwardly and he knew in his gut that there was no way he was going to be able to say no to this boy.

"O-okay," he got out finally. Blaine nodded awkwardly before he hugged Kurt and walked away with a wave and a small smile.

As they had agreed, Kurt and Santana spent the afternoon at the weaponry stations. Kurt avoided the swords at all costs, choosing to follow Sue's advice and not let any of the other tributes know where he was skilled at. He did cover the bow and arrow station and proved to be a good shot though he was better skilled with sai swords. He could make do with a bow. Santana turned out to be fairly decent with a bow too.

But her real strength with weaponry turned out to be with knives. Every time she threw one, it stuck the bullseye in the center. It was clear that she should probably present her skill with throwing knives to the Gamemakers. Kurt wasn't so lucky. His aim was much better with a bow so he figured he would just stick to regular knives.

Both of them turned out to be decent with a staff but neither thought it was likely they were good enough to survive the Games as a whole with it as their weapon.

When they moved to the physical combat station, they met Blaine and Brittany. Blaine was practicing on a punching bag and he was fairly good with it. Though the anger in his face suggested he was picturing the bag as someone and Kurt wondered who.

"But I don't want to punch people. That's not nice." Kurt tore his eyes from Blaine to see Brittany arguing with the trainer about actual physical combat.

He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Brittany, you need to learn to defend yourself in case someone attacks you in the arena," he told her quietly.

She gave him a confused look. "Why would anyone attack me? It's just a game." Kurt's eyes went wide and he glanced toward Santana who looked just as worried as he felt if not more so. Did Brittany really think this was just a game? What had her parents been teaching her all this time anyway?

Kurt moved over to Santana and gave a nod of his head. "Yeah, I think we better ally with them to be safe. Finn's nice and all but he's clueless. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about his ability to protect her and if Brittany thinks this is just a game and she won't get hurt, she's going to need a lot of protection." Santana nodded her head.

"Agreed. I'll make the offer later." Kurt confirmed with a nod before moving to the punching bag, only to find that Blaine had moved on. Oh well, he would see him later.

True to his word, that night, Kurt snuck out of bed and quietly made his way to the elevator, taking the short ride up to the roof.

When he got there, he found Blaine already seated there wrapped in a blanket and staring out at the night sky. Kurt gently sat down beside him.

"Hey," he said. Blaine looked over and smiled at him, holding out an arm to allow Kurt to scoot over and get under the blanket too. A flush covered the pale boy's face as he slid over and Blaine wrapped him in the blanket, his arm going protectively around the other boy. Kurt could feel Blaine's body heat as they pressed together to huddle under the blanket.

"Hey yourself," Blaine said, smiling up at him. Kurt couldn't help but smile back and those lips, they looked so kissable. He wanted just to lean in and press his to Blaine's. Instead, he sighed happily and rested his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"How long do we have left?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

Blaine furrowed his brow. "Two more days of training with presentation on the afternoon of the second one and then the interview. So that gives us, three days of definitely living left." Kurt felt his body tense up. He knew they would be shipped off to the arena the morning after the interview but to realize it was just three days away, or four if you counted the actual day, had fear crawling up his spine.

"I'm scared Blaine," he said quietly and Blaine pulled him closer to him, trying to provide as much comfort as he could.

"I know Kurt," he said. "I'm scared too. Terrified actually." Kurt had to wonder why Blaine was so scared when he was a Career. Wasn't the Hunger Games pre training facility in District Two? But Blaine hadn't struck him as a traditional Career and so Kurt realized he really shouldn't be surprised by it.

He lifted his head and looked into the other boy's eyes. They were the most beautiful honey-hazel he had ever seen in his life and God Blaine just looked so perfect in the moonlight.

"You're beautiful," Blaine suddenly said and Kurt felt his cheeks heat up at the compliment.

"So are you," he replied softly. And the next thing he knew, Blaine was leaning in slowly. Kurt's breath hitched as he waited in anticipation. His mind was screaming for him to stop, to pull away. He couldn't fall for a boy who was meant to kill him. But he didn't listen to it. He wanted this. He wanted the opportunity to experience this if he was going to be dead in a number of days.

The gap was closed and their lips touched and Kurt felt sparks shoot up his spine. This boy was probably going to be the death of him in the end, but not in the literal sense. Kurt's arms slid up around Blaine's neck and he felt the other boy pull him even closer.

The world seemed to stop as they kissed. All thoughts of the Games and dying in the arena being eliminated from their minds. Blaine's hand came up to rest on Kurt's cheek and Kurt could not help the small moan that fell from his lips.

Finally, the need for air broke them apart but they stayed close, both of them breathing rapidly and Kurt could feel his own heart beating out of his chest. He thought Blaine could probably feel it too.

"I know this sounds crazy," Blaine started. "But I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you Kurt."

Kurt's breath caught in his throat. "I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you too," he whispered before slamming his lips back to Blaine's.

Their kisses grew more heated, passionate, and needy and all thoughts of taking their time fell away from their head. They didn't have all the time in the world to fall in love and take things slow.

And that was how Kurt suddenly found himself naked, lying beneath Blaine as the curly-haired boy made love to him and he didn't have a single regret about it.

That night on the roof of the Training Center, two teenage boys lost their virginity to each other and neither one would ever regret it because they knew, by the end of this, at least one of them would be dead.

To Kurt's great fear, the next day and a half seemed to fly by and he found himself in the tribute holding room, waiting to make his presentation for the Gamemakers. He fumbled with his hands nervously. There would be no more training after this. He could only hope he and Santana learned enough. They had done what they could to cover as many stations as possible in the time they had. But some had taken longer to master than was expected.

"You okay?" said a voice. Kurt looked up to see Blaine staring down at him and how could the boy not look nervous? Being the male tribute of District Two, he was up third out of everyone. And he was next actually, considering the girl from District One had just gone out to make her presentation.

Kurt shook his head. "No, I'm terrified," he admitted. Santana was sitting with Brittany, stroking her head because the girl seemed somewhat distraught.

Blaine sat down beside Kurt and pressed a small chaste kiss to his cheek. Luckily no one was paying attention. "You'll be fine," he said sweetly. "Courage Kurt. And you have twenty-two other people to go before you, plenty of time to prepare."

Kurt smiled softly at him. "Yes but I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. By then, the Gamemakers will likely be tired of seeing people," he said with a frown.

Blaine was about to reply when he was called out to make his presentation. So instead he gave Kurt a squeeze of the hand, took a deep breath, and left the room. Kurt didn't see him again after that.

One by one the tributes were called out to present to the Gamemakers. Kurt watched their numbers dwindle down until it was just him and Santana left.

"We're going to be okay," Santana tried to reassure him. Kurt was called out and the Latina gave his hand a squeeze as he stood up and swallowed. "Go get them!" she encouraged him.

All that was on Kurt's mind as he made his way into the room where he saw the Gamemakers sitting high on a podium, was what Blaine had said to him. Courage. He thought of Blaine and of the amazing night they'd shared together and suddenly found his confidence growing.

"Hi, I'm Kurt Hummel," he said to the Gamemakers before making his way directly toward the sai swords and carefully picking them up, the clanging of the metal the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

Kurt walked back to the center of the room slowly and set his eyes on the targets across the room. But as he raised the sais to start twirling them for a throw, he noticed out of the corner of his eye on the Gamemakers finding a banana to be of much more interest.

Smirking, Kurt raised the sais and started twirling them through the air with expert precision. He got a good rhythm and then without warning, let one of them go, sending it flying right toward the Gamemaker with the banana. The man's eyes went wide with fear and the sai hit its target, expertly and cleanly slicing the banana in half and lodging itself in the wall behind him. All the Gamemakers gawked at Kurt who smiled softly and headed for a third sai sword as he couldn't get that one back obviously.

"Unless you want the next target to be your neck, I suggest you pay attention so you can score me fairly," he said politely. With all eyes on him now, Kurt demonstrated his skill with the sais further, hitting each dummy right on target.

When he had finished, he bowed and walked out of the room, only to find Blaine out in the hallway waiting for him. The curly-haired boy pulled him in and kissed him deeply, causing Kurt to feel pleasantly surprised but he wasn't complaining.

"How'd you do?" Blaine asked when they had pulled apart.

"All right, I think." To tell the truth, Kurt was pretty sure that little stunt he pulled was going to get him a low score but he wasn't about to tell Blaine that. "You?"

"I think I'll be good," he replied with a wink. Kurt smiled at him and they kissed again before Blaine said his good-byes and headed up to his living quarters.

Kurt waited for Santana to come out and the two of them went back up together, the tension high between them. Neither of them wanted to discuss the presentation. Kurt was rocking on the balls of his feet with nerves. He was honestly thinking he would likely get a one. After all, who had the courage to attack the Gamemakers?

On the other hand, a low score could work in his favor because than the other tributes would underestimate him and he could have the element of surprise on his hands.

His mind continued to battle with itself on the matter right up until it was time to watch the scores revealed.

As was expected, the Careers all got tens and elevens, with the exception of Sugar Motta who merely achieved a seven. Blaine got a ten and Kurt couldn't help smiling at him for that.

District Six only got a four and a five respectively. They'd be out in no time. Kurt was surprised the boy from District Three, the one in the wheelchair nabbed a seven and the girl from five achieved an eight.

Brittany only got a six though and Kurt and Santana exchanged looks. Finn surprisingly scraped a nine.

No one else was really much of a surprise and Kurt held his breath as the eight for the girl from District Eleven disappeared because he knew he was next. And he was mentally preparing himself for the heat he was going to get for the one, maybe a zero even. He certainly had not been prepared for what did happen.

Kurt Hummel - Eleven

Kurt was momentarily frozen in his spot. Eleven. He had gotten an eleven. The only non-Career to even get higher than a nine, which was what Santana got.

"Well done Porcelain." Sue's voice cut into Kurt's haze. "Not even I got an eleven when I was in the Games. This is going to make you a prime target both for murder and alliances but it's also going to get you a lot of supporters. A high score makes people look at you more." Kurt couldn't find anything to say. He bit his lip and allowed the small celebration of his eleven to surround him.

He was so sure he'd blown it by putting one of the Gamemakers' lives at risk. But apparently, they focused more on the incredible skill he had with the sais rather than the fact he put one of their own lives in danger. Kurt had never been so grateful for anything before in his life.

"Now all you have left is the interview tomorrow and then you'll be in the arena the following day," Sue was saying. "I have just one piece of advice for you concerning the interview. Don't say anything stupid." And as was becoming her trademark, she walked out of the room.

"I seriously don't know about her," Santana said. All Kurt could do was nod his agreement.


	5. The Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, here we go guys! A little later this morning but that's okay. Here is the interview and you know what that means! Tomorrow will be the first chapter in the arena! Yay!
> 
> By the way, what did you guys think of the Christmas episode? I'm still totally reeling and can't listen to the Chipmunk Song without laughing.
> 
> As always comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

It was after another fitful night's sleep that Kurt awoke on the last day he was certain to be alive. For a long while he stared at the ceiling. He knew he needed to eat breakfast but he certainly was not feeling very hungry at all.

He reached over to the bedside table and picked up the small silver band that rested there. His mother's wedding ring. He hadn't told anyone but it was this he had chosen as his token to take into the arena. He was hoping it would bring him some luck. Well now, he really needed it.

Sitting up, Kurt grabbed a chain and threaded it through the ring before fastening the chain around his neck. Standing, he padded out of the room and into the dining room on bare feet.

It was like déjà vu. Again, Santana was sitting at the table, just picking at the food on her plate. Kurt took the seat beside her and didn't say anything. He knew exactly what she was feeling.

Not really wanting to eat anything, he grabbed a single piece of toast and started nibbling at it, wrapping his other hand around the ring hanging around his neck.

"Well cattle to a slaughter," Sue said as she came into the room. "Today is your last day of guaranteed survival. Remember what I told you last night. Don't say anything stupid." She didn't bother sitting at the table and stared both of them down as they looked up at her without a word.

Kurt turned to lock eyes with Santana and the two of them seemed to exchange a silent conversation with just looks. It was merely the question, 'Does she always have to point out the obvious?' But they didn't dare discuss anything aloud, not when she could hear them.

Sue approached the table and set her usual shake concoction down, folding her arms across her chest.

"Now, because I don't know if I will be able to do this before you go into the arena tomorrow, I'll do it now," she said and Kurt exchanged another glance with Santana. "Who do you want to take out first?" she asked, looking at them carefully.

Kurt knew that she didn't want them to say the girl from five. It was obvious she had a soft spot for her. And he would feel guilty for saying the boy from three, though he would likely be an easy kill. It was Santana who came up with what he thought was the best answer.

"The tributes from District Six. They scored lowest," she said.

Sue picked up her shake and slammed it down. "Wrong! No one. The moment the countdown ends, you grab whatever supplies are nearest to you and you get the hell out of there, you understand?" They just looked at her. She didn't want them in the bloodbath. "Let the Careers take the weaklings in the bloodbath. You just take what you can and run! Get as far away from the cornucopia as possible."

Kurt was starting to think that maybe Sue wasn't so bad as a mentor. She didn't really offer them a whole lot of help and advice but where it really counted, she gave them the best possible advice they could hope for.

"Do you understand?" she repeated and both of them nodded. "Good. And don't fret if you don't get your hands on your ideal weapon right away," she added before turning on her heel and walking out of the room.

"She has a thing for dramatic exits," Kurt said quietly. Santana merely nodded her head.

It was then that something dawned on Kurt. The majority of the previous years, District Twelve had been taken out in the bloodbath. None of them had just run away from the place. He realized then that Sue must have not bothered giving this advice to former tributes and he stared after her retreating figure in amazement for a moment.

"What?" Santana asked him and he softly shook his head, looking at her.

"She believes we have a chance," he said. Santana just looked at him for a moment. "Think about it Santana. District Twelve is nearly always taken out in the bloodbath. She's never given her tributes the advice she just gave us." Santana's eyes widened to the size of saucers as realization dawned on her too.

"Oh my God," she whispered, staring straight ahead. For some reason, this information seemed to invoke a new hope and confidence in both of them and Santana actually took a bite of her breakfast. Renewed fight filled them as they realized their mentor thought they actually had a shot at winning this thing.

Despite nerves, the day seemed to creep by slowly and it felt like an eternity before Kurt found himself once more in the care of his prep team. Though he was relieved he didn't need nearly as much scrubbing and primping as he had when he had first arrived.

Likely clockwork, Holly entered the room where Kurt was sitting in his robe and April was once more at work on his nails. Elliott was applying makeup to his eyes, though it was a nude color so it would not stand out as much and Shelby was rubbing lotion into his pale legs. Kurt was so glad he had little body hair if any.

"Hello Kurt!" Holly greeted enthusiastically and Kurt couldn't help but to smile at her. He really did love her. She was great. She and David stayed in their living quarters with them, along with Sue and Emma. She had a garment bag with her and a box which had Kurt cocking his head slightly to one side.

"What's in the box?" he asked as Holly began shooing out the prep team. They scurried from the room, still chattering about the latest gossip concerning the Games. Apparently, Kurt's eleven was the talk of the Capitol. He was quickly being ranked as an underdog and favorite to win, right along with their top picks of the Careers, which included Blaine.

Holly grinned at him as she set the box and the garment bag down before indicating for him to stand and leaning over to unzip the garment bag. She said nothing in reply to his question though, choosing to leave him in suspense.

From the garment bag, Holly pulled the most stunning black tux Kurt had ever seen in his life. His eyes were wide with wonder and he almost couldn't even imagine being dressed that well.

"Let's get this on you than, shall we?" she said and Kurt hesitated, almost feeling like he didn't deserve to wear such an elegant article of clothing but Holly snapped her fingers. "Come on sweet cheeks. I promise you'll look dashing."

Kurt finally nodded his head and slowly slipped out of the robe. He was becoming a little more used to having his naked body exposed to these people. They never batted an eyelash about it. Blaine had taken the time to memorize and caress everything about his body the night they had made love on the roof. Kurt blushed at the memory.

"So, how about that Blaine Anderson?" Holly asked casually as she helped Kurt into undergarments and then the tux itself. Kurt didn't miss the knowing look on her face and he blushed again. "You like him don't you?" she went on.

"Like is an understatement," Kurt admitted. Holly merely hummed in reply. "I can't bring myself to kill him Holly. What if by some miracle, we're the last two left?" he asked her.

Holly paused in her action of smoothing down the shoulders of his tuxedo jacket and turned him around to face her.

"Kurt, if you are the last two left, forget about the stupid game and follow whatever your heart tells you to do," she told him. This was perhaps the best advice he'd ever gotten from anyone. "I don't condone these Games. I think it's sickening that the Capitol is sending children to their deaths year after year. But there's nothing I can do. So the best I can tell you is listen to what your heart says is right. If that means you kill Blaine or you both die in the end, than that is what the master plan was for you." Kurt swallowed thickly, attempting to keep the tears at bay.

"Thank you," he said in a quiet voice that sounded slightly choked. She nodded in reply and picked something up from the table beside her.

"Now, close your eyes please," she said. Kurt did as he was told and he felt the delicate stroke of a brush sweeping over his eyelids and fanning out to gently frame them. It was only a few minutes of work before she told him to open his eyes.

When Kurt looked in the mirror it was to find that she had used a black paint to make his eyes look like wings and the effect was absolutely extraordinary and gorgeous. She smiled at him from behind and went to work fixing his hair before turning and opening the box.

Kurt watched her carefully as she pulled a black top hat from the box. There were stunning black feathers sprouting from either side and in the front and center was the same type of light fixture used on mining helmets but instead of working like a flashlight, it merely produced a soft black glow. Kurt stared in amazement at the hat.

"Oh wow," he said as Holly smiled at him and moved to fix the hat on top of his head.

"So that everyone will know you're a standout of the mining district," she said, adjusting the hat so that it sat just right. Kurt marveled at the finished product. She really was the best stylist he could ask for. At least if he died, it wouldn't be with the shame of knowing he had looked so unappealing to the viewers.

After another moment of staring, Holly lead him out to the elevator to go down to where they were holding the interview. Santana and David met them and Kurt had to take a moment to look at his district partner.

She was dressed in a floor length slim fitting black gown that flowed open at the skirt. Her hair was down around her shoulders in soft waves and she had a simple headdress with the same light fixture on it as Kurt had on his top hat. Black stilettos were on her feet and they went well next to his black dress shoes.

To be fair, the District Twelve tributes looked nothing short of stunning and they were delicately hurried into the elevator when it arrived.

Everything was a blur as they were taken to the stage where the interview was to be held. Kurt felt his nerves hike up as he wrapped his hand around the ring he was still wearing around his neck.

This time, the girls in each district would go first as opposed to the boys going first for the presentation. This meant that Kurt would be interviewed last. He was honestly relieved with this news because he could listen to everyone else and feel the example they all set as the interviews progressed.

He watched from backstage as the interviews began, Will showing an overenthusiastic persona at the whole thing. He smiled much too brightly and tried to quell joy and excitement onto the tributes and the crowd, the latter of which cheered and applauded in their delight.

Kurt was peeking out as Will interviewed the boy from District One, Sebastian, when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turned around to be met with Blaine who was wearing a medium gray button down shirt paired with dark gray slacks and a black skinny tie. He looked exquisite, despite the simplicity of the outfit but maybe that was what his stylist had been going for.

"You look ravishing Kurt," he said sweetly and Kurt couldn't help but smile at him. He glanced around carefully before leaning in and giving Blaine a small peck on the lips before pulling back.

"Thank you. You darling, look exquisite," he replied. Blaine blushed and offered him a small smile. Kurt smiled back.

"What are you supposed to be, some kind of mining bird?" sneered a voice and Kurt realized that Sebastian's interview was over. He paled slightly as the boy rudely pushed past him and grabbed Blaine's hand on the way. "And stay away from my boyfriend!" he snapped and Kurt stared at him wide-eyed. Blaine had just enough time to shake his head no violently before Sebastian pulled him out of sight.

"Don't pay attention to Sebastian. He just thinks that he can get everything he wants," said a new voice and Kurt looked over to see the girl from District Two standing there and of course she would be, she was next. She was dressed in a simple, yet elegant dark gray gown that flowed around her knees beautifully. A simple matching headband held back her hair. She smiled at him sweetly and patted his arm as she made her way up the stairs to wait for her cue. "I'm Rachel by the way," she had just enough time to say before Will was introducing her and she was making her way out onto the stage.

Kurt was slightly surprised. He had expected someone stuck up and haughty but Rachel seemed a lot nicer than he had previously anticipated. At least, she seemed to be more on his and Blaine's side than Sebastian's but that didn't mean she wouldn't join the Careers in the arena.

"What was that about?" came Santana's voice. Kurt turned from watching Rachel's interview to see his district partner standing there, Brittany at her side.

"She was trying to reassure me. Apparently, I guess she doesn't like Sebastian either," he said, glancing back toward the stage, eyes still wide in surprise.

Santana watched what little bit of Rachel she could see for a moment. "I think man hands is just protective of her district partner and finds you to be the lesser threat of the two," she finally said. Kurt frowned slightly. Santana went on. "What I've gathered about her is that she's full of herself and self-centered and she's often very flirty with Blaine," she said. Kurt narrowed his eyes. "She thinks she's a star and better than everyone else, but I guess in a different way than Sebastian does."

"Oh," was all Kurt said. He stood there staring as Rachel's interview came to a close and was so transfixed that he jumped when Blaine appeared back at his side. Santana and Brittany had obviously walked off. But Finn was suddenly lingering nearby.

"I promise there is nothing between me and Sebastian," Blaine whispered and Kurt could hear the disgust in his voice. Clearly, Blaine did not like the boy any more than he did. This was a fact for which Kurt found himself incredibly pleased.

Rachel was making her way offstage, grinning a megawatt grin and Blaine sighed moving to walk up the steps and wait for his cue, throwing Kurt a smile. Rachel tossed Kurt a wink as she started to walk off and was immediately pounced on by Finn. Kurt shook his head.

"And now ladies and gentlemen of the Capitol, please welcome the male tribute from District Two, Blaine Anderson!" Kurt heard Will call out from the stage. Blaine straightened his tie and walked out. Kurt crept closer so he could hear a little bit of what was going on.

He couldn't really make out the words they were saying very well over the audience cheering and laughing but a silent hush befell the crowd at one point.

"So Blaine, we know that you are out and proud," Will was saying. "Anyone special in your life?"

There was a pause and Kurt held his breath. "Not at home, no," was Blaine's reply. "There was this guy Jeremiah but he turned out to not be interested in me because I was apparently too young for him." From his spot backstage, Kurt could see Blaine shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Not at home you say," Will said. "Does that mean you found someone special here?" he asked. Kurt was almost certain Blaine was blushing because he knew he was. His face felt really warm and well, he could just tell it was burning.

"There is someone, yes," Blaine admitted after a moment. "But I would prefer not to elaborate and keep it to myself for now," he went on and Kurt felt relieved that Blaine didn't think it was relevant to announce what was going on between them to the world on national television.

The seventeen year old checked out of the rest of Blaine's interview after that, feeling his insides go warm. He didn't realize he had been in some sort of trance until he felt Blaine enwrap him in a hug and place a gentle kiss to his temple. Kurt hugged him back tightly.

"I love you," Blaine whispered in his ear, causing Kurt's breath to hitch in his throat.

"I love you too," Kurt managed to whisper back. Blaine pulled away to smile at him. He gently cupped Kurt's cheek in his hand, rubbing over the apple with his thumb carefully.

"Courage Kurt. You'll do fine," Blaine said. And with a wink, he hugged Kurt one more time and walked off to get some water or something. Rachel was waiting for him, though Kurt noticed Finn was still attached to her.

He didn't really pay much attention to the other interviews. The boy from Three had to be carried onto the stage. The boy and girl from Four were full of themselves. The girl from Five had a speech impediment, apparently a symptom of her condition. The boy from Five growled and pounded his fist a lot. The tributes from Seven couldn't have more opposite attitudes. Brittany answered every question with a response that seemed to just confuse everyone. Finn said, "Uh" a lot. The girl from Ten was still incredibly nervous. And the girl from Eleven sounded like someone Kurt would get along with. Most of the others he didn't pay much attention to.

Before he knew it though, he was next. He stood on the stairs to the stage as Santana was wrapping up her interview. The rest of the tributes had long since left by now, leaving District Twelve the only ones remaining.

Kurt kept one hand on the ring and his mind on that one little word supplied by Blaine. Courage. He could do this. He could go out there and talk about himself in front of all those people.

Cheers rang up in the audience and Santana made her way offstage. Kurt moved slightly to the side to let her pass and she put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"I'll be waiting for you," she told him as she moved down the stairs. Kurt nodded and tugged down on the jacket of his tux as he turned to await his cue.

"And finally ladies and gentlemen of the Capitol, please welcome the male tribute from District Twelve, Kurt Hummel!" Kurt walked onto the stage at the sound of his name. The applause and cheers were absolutely deafening and he had to fight with himself not to clamp his hands down over his ears. "Hello Kurt," Will greeted him.

"Hello Will," Kurt replied.

"Wow, you look amazing," Will complimented and Kurt couldn't help but to smile at that because he did look amazing. He really did, if he did say so himself.

"Thank you. I owe it all to my stylist Holly Holiday. She's absolutely brilliant." Kurt couldn't help giving the woman some praise. Though he had to admit, she wasn't the only stylist who was brilliant. Whoever had dressed Blaine that day was brilliant too, well, except for the stone headdress at the tribute parade.

"Do you want to explain the feathers and the matching design around your eyes?" Will asked.

Kurt fought himself to keep from biting his lip and looked out at the crowd. "Holly said it was to show everyone I was a standout," he said simply.

Will seemed to study him for a moment. "I think you look like a raven or a blackbird," he said. "The raven blackbird of the mining district." Cheers and applause rang up through the audience and Kurt blushed. "Everyone says you are the underdog this year, the black horse. What exactly went on in that room during your presentation yesterday?"

Kurt opted for a joke. "I would tell you Will, but then I would have to kill you." That drew a laugh out of everyone, including Will as they picked up that he was obviously joking. "But no. You know I'm not allowed to discuss it," Kurt went on more seriously. Will nodded his head in understanding.

The tributes were not allowed to discuss what had happened in their presentation session with the Gamemakers, though Kurt had never exactly understood why that was at all. Maybe it was to keep the other tributes from knowing their best skills.

"I see you have a ring around your neck. Do you want to tell us about that?" Will asked and a hush fell over the crowd, much in the same way it had when Blaine was interviewed about being out and proud.

Kurt raised up a hand to wrap protectively around the ring. "This was my mother's wedding ring," he explained. "She died when I was eight. It's been just my dad and I ever since." He fought the urge to cry just then. He knew sob stories were another way of garnering sponsors and he was just glad his was the truth and not fake at all because he knew some tactics were to come up with a fake sob story to tell the Capitolites.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Will replied. From the corner of his eye, Kurt could see Emma gazing at Will the same way he knew he looked at Blaine. He shook it off. He could ask her about it later. "So no special someone in your life?" Will pried.

Kurt decided to give Blaine the same courtesy Blaine had given him. "There is someone," he said. "But I'd rather not talk about that right now," he said and Will gave a nod of his head.

"Tell us Kurt, what do you hope to achieve in the arena?" Will asked next and Kurt froze. He didn't know what he hoped to achieve. Really, all he wanted out of this was to live as long as he possibly could. He supposed that was his answer than.

"Right now, my only hope is that I survive a good long time at least," he said to laughter from the crowd.

"Nothing wrong with that," Will replied. "That about wraps us up though. Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Kurt Hummel, the Raven Blackbird of District Twelve!" Again the cheers and applause were deafening but Kurt just smiled and waved at everyone before he made his way offstage.

It dawned on him that it was over. All the preliminary things and preparations for the Games were now complete with his interview being the wrap up of the pre-Games ceremony. The very next day, he would enter the arena and if he wanted to exit, he was going to have to win.


	6. The Bloodbath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we go guys! The start of the Games has arrived! Bloodbath in this chapter so character deaths begin. My apologies. It was very difficult for me to decide when characters were going to die and there were plenty I had difficulty killing off. Like next chapter actually. There's only one death in the next chapter and I'll be explaining my reasoning for it tomorrow because it was one of the hardest. As always comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Kurt awoke the next morning feeling completely numb. He merely went through the motions of getting ready for the day, well aware that he could very well die that day.

His mind moved to Blaine and he wondered how he was feeling. He wished they had taken one more night for themselves but he hadn't seen the boy enough to ask him to meet him on the roof. Now he was facing the day without knowing anything about Blaine.

He was aware that he would see Blaine once before they were in the arena. In the hovercraft that was meant to transport them to the arena. Kurt still didn't understand why they built a new one every year. Maybe it was so that the tributes always went in not knowing what to expect.

After a meager breakfast, he and Santana were separated and lead to separate rooms. Holly was waiting for him with his attire for the arena. Light pants, a light shirt, boots, and a jacket that apparently got heavier and warmer when in a cold climate and lighter and cooler when in a warm climate. That was enough to tell Kurt that the environment in this arena was of mixed climates. He wasn't sure how they managed that.

"All the tributes are dressed the same way," Holly explained as she zipped up his jacket. Kurt nodded numbly. "You okay Kurt? You're awfully quiet," she said, helping him down from the table he was sitting on.

"I feel numb," he admitted. Holly nodded her head and wrapped him in a hug. He hugged her back, fighting the desire to cry.

"You'll be okay," she said, pulling away to help him fasten the ring around his neck. She didn't say anything else, for which Kurt was actually grateful. He didn't think he could listen to words of encouragement right then. He doubted they would do much good. Instead he focused on that one word from Blaine. Courage.

"Are you coming with us?" Kurt asked. Holly gave him an apologetic smile. He knew that meant that she had to stay behind. He would have no one there with him to attempt to calm his nerves as he stood waiting to get into the arena.

She didn't answer him and Kurt wasn't surprised. But he didn't need her to anyway. He already knew the answer. He merely allowed himself to hug her again, something of a last good-bye he figured.

Kurt barely noticed the walk to the hovercraft. He barely realized Santana was seated next to him on the flight, though out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that she seemed just as numb as he was. He could make out Blaine some ways down, and the boy gave him an encouraging smile. Kurt managed to smile back.

"Arm please," said a lady in a lab coat as she came to a stop in front of Kurt. Kurt rolled up his sleeve and extended his arm. "This is your tracking device," the woman explained as she pressed a needled gun to Kurt's pale arm. He winced at the pain as a chip was embedded in his skin. "It will help us keep track of your location in the arena at all times."

She didn't have to sugarcoat it. Kurt knew what it was for. It was so they could find his body after he was killed. If he was killed that was.

The lady moved on to Santana and Kurt took a look around at all the other tributes. The girl from Ten, Marley, was paler than he was naturally and he was quite sure she'd been nothing but fearful the whole time so far. He felt a little bad for her.

The girl from Nine, Lauren, looked like she was ready to start pulling up trees. Her district partner looked absolutely terrified next her. Next to Blaine, Rachel was smiling though Kurt could see the nervousness on her face. Sebastian was merely looking smug, his district partner, Sugar, seeming small in comparison.

A glance over at the tributes from District Four, Quinn and Noah, told Kurt they were feeling just as smug as Sebastian seemed to be and he was willing to bet they were allying.

The boy from Five was persistently pounding his fist into his hand and for the first time, Kurt realized he was staring right at him. He swallowed hard under his gaze and quickly tore his eyes away from the boy. The girl next to him looked kind of small and squashed, her glasses slightly askew on her face.

Like the tributes from Nine the tributes from Seven were opposite. One looked fierce and the other terrified. The tributes from Six were hard to read. The boy from Three looked ready to throw up. The girl next to him, the Asian girl, had a comforting hand on his arm. Kurt didn't blame the boy. He was in a wheelchair after all.

The boy from Ten looked a little better than his partner but Kurt could tell he was worried. Both tributes from Eleven looked terrified and Kurt wasn't aware dark skinned people could pale like the girl was. They were clutching each other's hands tightly.

And as for Finn and Brittany, Brittany's ever present smile was slapped on her face and that worried Kurt. He was afraid she still wasn't fully aware of what was going on. And Finn, well he was hard to read because he looked neither frightened nor relaxed. In fact he looked no different than he always had. But his eyes were again fixed on Rachel.

Kurt allowed his gaze to move back to Blaine, who he found was watching him as well. This was it. This may be the last day they ever saw each other. Alive that was. But they had agreed on an alliance and Kurt was determined to carry that out.

He allowed his mind to travel to other things, thinking about what he could do that may possibly help him. He would have ten seconds to observe his surroundings once he got in the arena before the gong to go would be made. He figured he would use that time wisely and try and develop a plan.

Remembering that Sue told them to not think about killing tributes, just grab the closest supplies to them and run, Kurt decided he was going to have to observe quickly to figure out the smartest track to run. Meaning, figure out which direction others were less likely to run in.

Turning to Santana, he whispered, "When we get in the arena, use the countdown time to observe your surroundings." She nodded her head quickly. "On go, do exactly what Sue told us to. Grab anything near you and run."

"What if we get separated in running?" she whispered back. Kurt just shook his head.

"Don't worry about that. All we should worry about is getting away. We'll find our allies later if we have to." She nodded again, though hesitantly.

That was the bad thing about not having any clue what the arena looked like. You didn't have time to pre-plot an escape route to insure you and your allies stayed together. And mind reading was not necessarily a cinch.

"Try to glance toward me and I will give my head the slightest of nods in a certain direction. Follow me that way if you catch it," he said finally. She nodded again. This time with more assurance. They fell into silence again after that.

The hovercraft landed and each of the tributes was escorted off the ship separately. They were all moved along to their own small chambers. Kurt soon found himself in a room with a glass tube. He knew what he was meant to do.

Fiddling with his zipper a few times, Kurt moved to stand inside the tube. In a matter of moments, they would be lifted up into the arena. He didn't have a clue where Blaine would be standing or Santana or anyone for that matter. But he knew that Santana would likely not be anywhere near him. They tended to split the district tributes up. Make it harder for them to stick together.

Kurt waited with bated breath. He knew that at home, his dad was likely in the town square preparing to watch his son in the official start of the actual Games and hoping to a God Kurt didn't believe in that he survived the brutal bloodbath.

The bloodbath was likely the worst part of the whole thing. A slew of tributes were taken out right in the beginning. Sometimes as many as half. But averagely somewhere between six and ten tributes died in the bloodbath. It was brutal.

And then deaths dropped to two or three a day at most, if any. There were some days that had no deaths at all. And it was these situations that prompted the Gamekeepers to run environmental natural disasters. These usually were successful in taking out a tribute or two. Better way to die than be murdered at someone else's hand Kurt supposed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the jolt of his platform beginning to move upward and Kurt tilted his head toward the sky. It was clear blue above his head. This was it. This was the moment that would start his fight for life.

Kurt's platform moved slowly up into the arena and he glanced around. To his surprise, Blaine was to his immediate right. The female tribute from nine was to his left and right in front of him was a backpack. As he had expected, Santana was at least ten tributes to his left. Brittany was directly across the half circle from her, placing Kurt somewhere in the center of the U shape formed by the tributes.

In front of him some yards away was the cornucopia at the heart of which was a bunch of supplies and right on the outskirts of the pile was a pair of sai swords.

The countdown began as Kurt's platform locked into place. If a single tribute stepped off their platform before the go command, they would be immediately blown up and disqualified obviously. It was against the rules of the Games to go before the go.

Ten…nine…eight…

Kurt took in his surroundings. In front of him, behind the cornucopia was a large snow-capped mountain. He squinted slightly and thought he noticed what looked like a cave some ways up. That would be ideal hiding for right off the back.

Seven…six…five…

He turned his head to glance behind him and saw a dense wood. No doubt that would be the obvious route to take when running. Trees were excellent cover but that meant that a lot of the tributes would likely go the same way.

Kurt threw his eyes back to the front of him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Blaine watching him with one eye and examining the arena with the other. Kurt gave the slightest nudge of his head forward. He had a plan. It was crazy to say the least and Sue might yell at him later for it but he both wanted to go the less expected route and get his hands on those sais.

His plan, run straight forward, grab the backpack and the sais on the way and disappear up the mountain. A risky move yes but if he succeeded, it would have been worth it. And it wasn't like he wasn't following Sue's advice. He was going to grab what he could and get the hell out of there but he wanted to be away from as many enemy tributes as possible.

Four…three…two…

He turned his head toward Santana and saw her watching him. He gave it the slightest of nudges forward and watched her glance toward the mountain. Even from her distance he could see her raise an eyebrow slightly and he gave another tiny nod of his head. He was glad her eyesight was sharp enough to pick it up.

Swallowing, he turned back to the countdown and prepared to run. His left hand outstretched to grab the backpack on the way, his fingers flexed and his eyes narrowed. He was glad that Sebastian was both far away from him and not too close to the heart of the cornucopia either. He knew the boy wanted to do away with him. At least he had a chance to get away unscathed.

One…GO!

And just like that the tributes all leaped from their platforms and the bloodbath began.

Kurt jumped down and ran straight forward, snagging the backpack on the way. Behind him, he could hear Blaine running and turned his head slightly as the boy grabbed a coil of rope. Kurt grinned.

He kept running forward, eyes on those sais. He could see Santana ahead of him and silently cheered when she managed to snag a bundle of three throwing knives.

Out of the corner of his eye though, he noticed Sebastian coming right for him. The boy had already snagged a spear and was ready to throw it. Kurt increased his pace.

A scream came from somewhere behind him but he didn't dare look. And then suddenly the boy from District Three was falling in his path, a knife lodged in his back and Kurt felt so bad for the poor kid. Cannons were starting to go off as those without a chance dropped. Sebastian was still coming at him from behind.

Kurt threw the backpack over his shoulder and dodged around Artie, glad that the boy's body at least provided an obstacle for Sebastian to throw around. A hand slipped into his and Kurt glanced behind him to see Blaine smiling. A quick glance back revealed Sebastian lowering the spear. Kurt was willing to bet that he wouldn't dare attack him with Blaine in the way.

He made it to the sais and grabbed them, continuing to run and pulling Blaine along behind him. Santana had already made headway for the mountain and Kurt started to follow her.

Suddenly, a pain in his right caff nearly brought him to the ground but he forced himself to stay upright.

Glancing down, he noted the spear sticking out of his leg and gritted his teeth. So Sebastian had shot at him anyway. Perhaps with intentions on taking him down so he couldn't run from the bloodbath. Well, he was not going to let himself go down that easily.

Wincing from the pain, Kurt used his adrenaline to reach down and pull the spear from his leg. He bit down hard on his lip to avoid crying out, drawing blood from his lip. He dropped the spear on the ground, grabbed Blaine's hand again and kept moving.

"Kurt, we need to wrap up the injury!" Blaine insisted.

Kurt shook his head violently. "Not until we're away from the bloodbath. If we stop now, one or both of us could be dead and Sebastian clearly has his eye on taking me out," he replied.

And so they pressed forward, Kurt squeezing Blaine's hand tighter as they began climbing the mountain and it put added pressure on his injured leg, but he ignored the pain and kept on moving.

They met Santana partway up, the screams of dying tributes back at the cornucopia nearly completely drowned out as they got further away.

"What happened?" Santana asked when she noticed her district partner limping up the mountain.

"Sebastian got me in the leg with a spear," Kurt told her. "Keep moving. There's a cave up here somewhere. We can use it for cover to examine my leg in."

As they walked on further, cannon shots rang out in the air from the deaths at the bloodbath. Blaine was apparently keeping count of the number.

"That's seven," he said some time later. Santana was pale. Kurt knew what she was worried about, that one of those shots had been for Brittany. Kurt couldn't blame her. He felt bad because he had the two people that mattered most to him with him right then.

Sure enough, they eventually came across a cave and Kurt was surprised to find it was more of a tunnel as there was a small light at the other end.

"Should we go to the other end?" Santana asked. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, it will take us farther from everyone else. That'll be safer right now. As long as no one saw us come in here, we'll be fine for a while," he replied, moving forward and supporting his weight on Blaine as he limped through the tunnel.

He had the backpack on his back and the sais in his right hand. At least they had weapons of defense should anyone find them.

"If no one saw us come in here, we could stay safe for a long time and let everyone else kill each other off," Santana said when they were about halfway through the tunnel.

Blaine shook his head. "No. The Gamemakers will send natural disasters our way. We'll have to move if we don't want to be taken out by them," he said. Kurt nodded his head and Santana's face fell. She knew Blaine was right.

"Besides, don't you want to find Brittany?" Kurt asked. Santana slowed down a bit and hugged herself. A strangled sob left her throat and Kurt knew how worried she was that Brittany was one of those cannons.

She bit her lip. "What if she's already dead Kurt?" she asked quietly. Kurt frowned, not knowing how to respond to that so he stayed quiet.

Nothing else was said as they continued their track through the tunnel and when they reached the end, they gawked at what they saw.

At the base of the other side of the mountain was a vast valley with high grass to keep people hidden as they tracked through it and just beyond that was a beach and what looked like the ocean.

"Oh my God," Kurt whispered.

"It's amazing," Blaine commented. Santana merely nodded her agreement.

The three of them settled down and Kurt allowed Santana to tend to the wound in his leg. It wasn't that deep thankfully. But they didn't have any medical supplies on them. At least they didn't think they did.

"What's in the backpack?" Santana asked. She had stripped her jacket and was using it as a compress against the wound in Kurt's leg.

Kurt pulled the backpack from his back and unzipped it, pulling out the contents.

"Two water bottles, one empty, one full, a packages of jerky, three apples, a loaf of bread, some dried fruit, a pocketknife, some ointment, and a blanket," he said, depositing the items in front of them. Well, that wasn't too bad. At least they had some food and water and a knife and a way to keep warm.

Santana grabbed the ointment and pulled the top off the tub. All three of them cringed at the smell but it was just their luck that it turned out to be useful in tending to Kurt's wound. She recognized it as a strong healing ointment. Though it was too bad they didn't have anything to dress the injury with.

"The boy in the wheelchair is dead," Kurt said quietly some time later. He wasn't sure how much time had passed but the sun was starting to go down and the cave was beginning to get colder. Kurt felt the weight of his jacket increasing and Blaine handed Santana the blanket seeing as with her using her jacket as a compress for Kurt's leg, she didn't have anything keeping her warm. She thanked him gratefully.

They sat in the mouth of the cave on the valley side of the mountain, watching the sun go down and feeling a sort of sadness for those that were lost in the bloodbath.

It was clear that the bloodbath was over by now and no other tributes had happened upon the cave so far as they knew. They were safe for now and probably for the night.

"I have to ask Kurt, why run to the mountain?" Santana questioned as the darkness began to sink in around them.

Kurt turned his eyes from the sky and looked at her. "Because I knew everyone else would run for the woods. I wanted us to go the less expected path. It would ensure our safety longer," he told her. And he was right. With night closing down on them, District Twelve may very well make it to day two this year, an accomplishment in itself.

"Good thinking," Santana said.

Before their conversation could continue, the Panem anthem began to play and the Capitol emblem appeared in the sky. Blaine wrapped an arm around both of them and pulled them in closer as they watched the sky.

One by one the faces of the fallen tributes appeared in the sky. Sugar Motta from District One. Artie Abrams from District Three. Frida Romero from District Six. Joe Hart from District Six. Ryder Lynn from District Seven. Rory Flanagan from District Nine. Santana let out a grateful sob as she realized Brittany was still alive. Mike Chang from District Ten. And then the sky went blank.

Seven fallen tributes, including one Career. That left seventeen to have survived the bloodbath. Among them, Brittany, Finn, and Blaine's district partner Rachel. And unfortunately but not surprisingly, Sebastian.

Day one in the arena was drawing to a close. The bloodbath was over, taking seven lives with it. The Games had officially begun.


	7. At The Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, the start of day two in the arena and the adventure really begins now. I do have something to explain so be sure to read the end notes because I don't want to spoil the chapter. Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

The next morning, Kurt stirred at the sound of voices and quickly blinked his eyes open. There were three people standing all the way at the other end of the cave. They were far enough away that Kurt couldn't make out who they were but if they decided to come walking through, they'd find them.

Luckily, their backs were turned toward the entrance of the cave and they seemed to be in some sort of heated debate. Kurt decided that they couldn't take any chances. They had to move and fast.

He forcibly leaned over and shook both Blaine and Santana awake.

"What the hell Hummel?" Santana snapped groggily. Kurt put a finger to his lips and pointed to the far mouth of the cave. As soon as Santana saw the three tributes, she cursed under her breath.

The three of them started hastily packing up their supplies. Blaine helped Kurt to his feet and Santana took her jacket from his leg, certain by now the bleeding had stopped. As quietly as they could the three of them moved out of the other mouth of the cave and started down the mountain, moving quickly.

They disappeared just in time for the other three tributes to peer into the cave, obviously having heard some sort of commotion. They didn't dare stop moving though.

They continued on down the mountain and into the valley. The grass was even taller at eye level than it had seemed to be from the view up at the cave. It hid them all rather well as they traipsed on through.

"Where are we going?" Santana asked as they continued their walk through the tall grass of the valley.

"Head for the ocean," Blaine said with a nod of his head. He and Kurt were walking hand in hand and though Kurt's leg still hurt, he found the injury was much easier to walk on than it had been when he had first obtained it the day before.

Santana didn't say anything but merely nodded, trying to judge the direction and sniffing for a scent of sea air. The problem was, having grown up in District Twelve, she didn't have a clue what sea air was supposed to smell like. She could only hope she was leading them in the right direction.

"Do you think anyone has made it to this side yet?" Blaine asked out of the blue a few moments later. Kurt shrugged.

"Hard to tell. There's no way of knowing if those woods wrap around the mountain or if that tunnel cave is the only way to this side," he said quietly.

Santana scoffed. "I wouldn't put it passed the Gamemakers to make that tunnel cave the only way through," she said. "I mean, the point is to test survival right?" she pointed out with a shake of her head, pushing some of the grass out of her face.

"True," Blaine said. "On the other hand, that sounds more like something they would do for a Quarter Quell arena," he noted and Santana and Kurt both nodded in agreement.

The Quarter Quell arenas were always much more intricately designed. More dangerous, and much harder to survive in. Kurt could see many ways that this arena could have been made for the Quarter Quell. For one thing, the ocean might be the only water source and be only on the one side the arena. But when he was taking in the view, it looked to him like it might possibly circle the arena on the perimeter. And than of course the tunnel cave would have been the only pathway through to the valley side.

"Blaine's right," Kurt said finally. "I don't think it's the only way through. I think the ocean surrounds the arena's perimeter," he explained, letting the other two in on his thoughts.

"So you think we're in a giant circle?" Santana asked.

Kurt opened his mouth to reply when they were met with the sound of giggling. The three of them stopped short and Santana pulled apart the grass in front of her to peer out.

It was the beach. But it certainly was not empty. Two people had already made it there, proving that the cave was in fact not the only way to make it to this side of the arena.

Upon closer inspection, the two people turned out to be Rachel and Finn. Blaine stared with wide eyes and Santana narrowed her own. She was feeling a bit angry that Finn had left Brittany on her own in favor of prancing off after Rachel. God that boy was stupid.

It was Rachel who was giggling. The two of them were standing bare foot in the sand with their jackets stripped, their supplies were resting under a nearby tree and Kurt caught sight of a bow and a quiver of arrows. He wasn't sure which of the two of them used that particular weapon.

"It's Rachel's," Blaine whispered quietly as if reading Kurt's mind. Kurt and Santana both stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. "I know it's kind of strange because Rachel would never kill an animal, much less a human as she's a vegan, but it was the weapon she excelled with in training." Kurt had to agree that it was kind of strange. And the fact that Rachel was a Career made it kind of confusing because if she couldn't bring herself to kill anything, what the hell was she even doing here?

Finn had Rachel wrapped in his arms and he was gazing down at her with doe eyes. It was really kind of annoying and disgusting and well, Santana was getting sick of it.

"Can we break up this sickening pow wow?" she asked. "We're here to fight for our lives, not play Ken and Barbie on the beach."

Her voice was just a little bit too loud and it caught the attention of the two tributes on the beach. Rachel grabbed her bow immediately and raised it, pointing the arrow in their direction.

"Who's there?" she called out, voice strong and firm. Blaine let go of Kurt's hand and Kurt tried to pull him back but Blaine shook his head. After a moment, Kurt got what he was doing. Since Rachel was Blaine's district partner, she was less likely to shoot him if he showed himself first.

So Blaine carefully walked out of the grass with his hands held up in surrender. He made sure that he didn't give Rachel a glimpse of Kurt and Santana.

"It's only me Rach," he said casually. She lowered her bow and narrowed her eyes for a moment.

"You're not alone," she said, still gripping the weapon.

Blaine sighed and gave his head a short shake. "No. I have two other people with me," he admitted. Rachel gave him a hard look and folded her arms across her chest best she could with the bow still in her hand.

"They better be Careers," she said. Blaine took offense and narrowed his own eyes at her.

"Oh like you're snuggling up to one now?" he asked defensively. Finn glared at him and balled his hands into fists. He started to walk toward Blaine but Rachel put a hand out to stop him and opened her mouth to retort.

Just then a knife flew through the air and stuck Finn in the shoulder. The tall boy cried out and dropped to his knees, wrapping a hand around the hilt of the knife and proceeding to pull it slowly from his shoulder before clapping a hand to the wound. Rachel dropped her bow and ran to him just as Santana emerged from the grass.

"Consider that a warning Frankenteen," she said, walking over to retrieve the knife from where Finn had dropped it on the ground. "For leaving Brittany behind to fend for herself!" she spit out.

"She's alive isn't she?" Finn ground out through gritted teeth. Santana glared harder at him.

Placing her hands on her hips, she said, "You really are that stupid aren't you Finn?" He opened his mouth to reply but she didn't give him the chance. "In case you've forgotten, she thinks this is all a game and she only got a six for her score! She's not going to get much help from outsiders!" She straightened up and looked at him in disgust. "And we were supposed to be allies. You two and me and Kurt."

Finn started to laugh a little before he glanced up and started laughing even more. "You really think I'm going to ally with a district who is normally dead by the end of the bloodbath?" Rachel's mouth dropped open in surprise. It was true what they said about the Games. They turned some people completely manic. "Where's your little Kurt now?"

At that moment a sai sword flew so close to the side of his head that it managed to graze off a few of his hairs before lodging itself in the tree behind him. Finn stared with wide eyes and a stunned expression on his face.

"Right here," Kurt said harshly, emerging from the grass and fighting the urge to limp as he crossed to the tree and pulled the sai from it. "Insult me again, and next time, I actually will aim for your head instead of just slightly to the side of it."

Finn just stared at him, mouth agape. Rachel was a bit stunned too. She had been trying to figure out how the boy from Twelve had pulled an eleven, one point higher than herself and now she may have just witnessed her answer. The boy had amazing accuracy with those swords apparently. He had shot it exactly where he wanted it to go, as close to Finn's head as he possibly could get without hurting him.

Rachel put a hand on Finn's arm. "We would be stupid not to ally with them Finn," she said quietly. Finn swallowed thickly and shut his eyes and when he opened them again, he looked a lot less manic and a lot more like the Finn they had first met.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's these Games," Blaine started, throwing his arms wide. "They turn people manic!" Nobody could find a reason to disagree with him.

Finn drew a breath and looked up at Santana. "I honestly don't know what happened to Brittany. I vowed to keep an eye on her but the moment go was called, she grabbed a nearby blanket and skipped off into the woods behind her."

This did nothing to appease Santana's worries. Not only was Brittany apparently off on her own somewhere, but the only supplies she had was a blanket. Unless like in some cases, there was a knife or something bundled in the middle of it. She found herself wondering what miracle had kept Brittany alive thus far. She only knew she was still alive because there had been no cannon shots since the bloodbath had ended the day before.

"I tried to go after her, I did," Finn went on. "But that girl skips scarily fast." He really looked sorry and Santana sighed heavily.

"Sit down and pull your arm out of your shirt," she instructed. Finn looked at her for a moment but did as he was told. "Kurt hand me the ointment." Kurt rummaged in the backpack for the tub of healing ointment and handed it to her. Santana set to work dabbing the horrid smelling stuff onto the wound she inflicted herself.

Rachel sat down beside Finn, setting her bow down on the ground. "How did you guys end up here?" she asked quietly.

Kurt and Blaine sat down under the tree with Kurt putting his injured leg in the curly-haired boy's lap and Blaine carefully massaging the aching muscle around the injury.

"I have good eyes," Kurt started. "I took the ten seconds of countdown to observe the surroundings. There's a tunnel cave up on that mountain," he said, pointing to the snowcapped mountain. "So while everyone else ran for the woods, Santana, Blaine, and I went for the mountain. We spent the night in the tunnel cave."

Blaine picked up for him. "In the morning, Kurt noticed that there were three tributes at the far end so we decided to move and came down the mountain on this side. We came through the grass valley," he explained, pointed toward the tall grass.

"How did you get injured?" Rachel asked Kurt carefully.

Santana replied without looking up from her work on Finn's shoulder. "Sebastian got him in the caff with a spear as he was running from the bloodbath." Rachel cringed.

"You're pretty good at that," Finn said quietly. Santana shrugged.

"My father's the medicine man in District Twelve," she said nonchalantly. "I know a thing or two about first aid." Finn nodded carefully.

"So, what all supplies do you guys have?" he asked next.

Kurt brought the backpack to rest in his lap and smiled. "A full water bottle, an empty water bottle, some jerky, three apples, a loaf of bread, some dried fruit, a pocketknife, that ointment, a blanket, sai swords, three throwing knives and a rope between the three of us." Finn and Rachel were both completely stunned. "All of that aside from the swords, rope, and throwing knives was found in the backpack, which so happened to be right in front of my platform," he explained.

"That's lucky," Rachel said. "All we have is my bow and arrows, a loaf of bread, and couple of daggers." Kurt frowned. Not everyone got so lucky and he was slightly worried that telling Rachel what they had would give her incentive to want to kill them but Blaine was her district partner so he had to hope for the best.

"I'm sure we can collect things from tributes we end up killing," Santana commented, screwing the lid back on the tub of ointment and standing up to put it back into the backpack.

Rachel held out a hand. "Give me the empty bottle. I'll go fill it with water," she said, nodding her head toward the ocean.

Kurt pulled out the empty water bottle but hesitated. Not because he was hesitant to trust her, which Rachel realized because his eyes were on the ocean instead of her when he next spoke.

"How do we know that water isn't salt water?" he asked quietly. Not that they couldn't drink salt water but it wouldn't be as good for them as drinking fresh water.

The brunette girl shook her head. "I don't think they would only put salt water in the arena. They did that one year and it made all the tributes sick from ingesting too much salt," she explained.

Kurt gave his head a nod and handed her the bottle. She pulled herself to her feet, saying that she would be right back, and started making her way down to the water's edge.

It was Blaine who spoke next. "Okay, so when Rachel gets back, we need to start moving. We can't stay here. It's too open," he said. Santana nodded her head.

"And we can't go back to the tunnel cave because there's no way of knowing whether those three tributes came on through and if they did, they could be hanging around somewhere nearby," she said.

"Right," Kurt agreed. "So, we go that way." He nodded his head in the direction of the trees on the far side of the beach.

"Sounds like a plan," Finn said. "I think that's the side of the arena Brittany disappeared into. With any luck maybe we'll come across her."

Santana was about to open her mouth to reply when a sudden scream pierced the air. A scream that sounded a lot like Rachel.

The four of them glanced at each other before they jumped to their feet and began taking off down the beach for the water. Finn was sprinting ahead at full speed. He was calling out Rachel's name as they drew closer.

When they approached the water's edge, they all came to a gaping halt. Rachel was wrestling with the water bottle, the other end of which turned out to be in the mouth of an alligator.

"Dear God," Kurt whispered. Never in all his years of watching the Games had he ever seen any that had alligators involved. Finn decided he wasn't just going to stand there and watch Rachel nearly get eaten by the creature as she tried to save the water bottle, which had to be punctured by now, rendering it useless anyway. He took off running right into the fray.

"Finn!" Blaine, Santana, and Kurt all cried out but it was no use. The boy ran and without thinking, jumped on the back of the alligator, wrapping his arms around its jaws.

The creature immediately let go of the water bottle, causing Rachel to stumble backward and fall to her ass on the sand. She screamed, scrambled backward, and started calling out Finn's name.

Finn wrestled the alligator, thrashing in the water and he seemed to be putting up a good fight despite his injured shoulder, narrowly avoiding the creature's snapping jaws. He looked like he had the upper hand. Until…

…snap!

The alligator's jaws clamped down hard on Finn's neck and Rachel let out a wretched cry. Blood began to spout from where the alligator had a hold on Finn.

Thinking quickly Kurt grabbed his sais and spun them through the air before he threw one at the alligator. The sword embedded itself in the creature's head, immediately causing it to go still, indicating it had died just about instantly. Its jaws loosened and Finn fell limply into the water.

Kurt ran forward to grab his sai, wiping the alligator's blood off with his jacket and cringing. Santana and Blaine moved to grab a hold of Finn and drag him out onto the sand.

Santana immediately tore off her jacket and pressed it to the wound in Finn's neck, attempting to staunch the flow of blood. But it was no use. Her jacket was soaked through in seconds and she pulled it away sadly. Rachel was quietly sobbing behind them.

"No good," Santana said shaking her head. "The alligator's teeth punctured his jugular vein it looks like." As if confirming her suspicions, a few moments later, a cannon went off. Finn Hudson was dead.

Kurt ran back to the tree, ignoring his own injury again in his adrenaline, intending to grab a branch, which he didn't even explain why to the others and Blaine moved to slide Finn's eyelids shut.

"At least he wasn't killed by another tribute," Blaine remarked quietly. That was probably the only good thing about it. Finn had died playing the hero. He was trying to rescue Rachel from the alligator. Kurt had tried to rescue Finn by killing the animal with one of his sais, but even if he had done it sooner, there might still have been no hope.

Kurt came back with a heavy tree branch in his hands, his sais now hanging from the belt that went with his pants.

"What are you doing with that Hummel?" Santana asked as he made his way back toward the alligator.

"We're keeping it for food," Kurt replied and Rachel looked at him in disgust.

"Are you kidding? I can't eat that thing! It's meat!" she called out incredulously.

"Fine, you can munch on your loaf of bread," Kurt said shortly. "But you're going to have to leave your vegan tendencies behind Rachel because if you want to survive in this, you won't do it living off the little bits of fruit and bread we manage to get our hands on." Rachel was quiet. She knew he was right. If she wanted to last in this game, she was going to have to start eating meat. "Blaine get your rope."

Blaine stood up and hurried back to the tree, grabbing the rope and returning to the other three. Together, he and Kurt tied the dead alligator to the tree branch and lifted it, one end each.

"All right, let's get moving," Kurt said, holding his end of the branch surprisingly well for his slender frame.

With a quick stop at the tree to pick up the backpack and Rachel's bow, and taking the daggers off Finn, the four of them began the track towards the trees. Their plan was to find somewhere safe to set up camp and build a fire.

With Finn dead from an alligator, they knew now to be prepared for just about anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wanted to explain about Finn. I was thinking a lot about how he was going to die in the arena and this was kind of a complicated issue given the passing of Cory. I finally decided that I couldn't bring myself to have one of the other characters kill him off because AU or not, I just can't see any if them doing that. So I decided to do him Justice and have him die trying to save someone else. I felt the most comfortable writing his death that way. I hope it was okay. Thanks guys!


	8. Flash Flood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, this chapter marks the halfway point in the story! Eight chapters down, eight go. Also, I've been doing a final editing read through before posting each chapter so if you find any mistakes and typos I may have still pleased, please let me know. I'm a grammar nazi so I absolutely hate when I find something I somehow missed. Things are going to get a little wet in the chapter. Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

The four of them were astounded that they didn't meet anyone on their track into the woods. There was certainly enough alligator to feed another potential ally or two. Oh well, they could save the left over meat for later.

With the denseness of the trees it was hard to tell what time of day it was and they had been walking for a number of hours. Both Kurt's back and injured leg were aching badly. Not to mention they now had just one water bottle to four people. This was not good, not at all.

"I can't walk anymore," Rachel finally said, plopping down on a log. Kurt and Blaine didn't protest. They set the tree branch down on the ground and began to scour the area for shelter along with Santana.

Though after a moment, Blaine made Kurt sit down with Rachel. He was limping quite badly and the curly-haired boy felt bad for making him walk so far carrying that tree branch. Though Kurt was the one who insisted they keep moving. He was stubborn.

"I found something!" Santana called out, running back to them. "There's a small cavern about ten feet up that way," she explained, pointing in the direction of the way she had come.

Kurt and Rachel both stood and Kurt took up his end of the branch again, shaking his head when Blaine opened his mouth to protest. Santana lead the way to the cavern, which actually wasn't as small as she had originally thought. The four of them fit in nicely.

"I'll go gather firewood," Blaine said, starting to head out of the cavern when Kurt caught him by the arm.

"Please be careful," he said quietly. "I can't lose you Blaine." For the first time since they had actually entered the arena, Blaine brought his hand to Kurt's cheek and rubbed it gently.

"You won't lose me Kurt, I promise," he told him. Santana rolled her eyes but averted her attention. Rachel took the hint and started wandering the cavern in search of rocks to use to form a fire pit. Blaine chuckled lightly but took his chance.

Both of them leaned in at the same time and pressed their lips together firmly. Kurt whimpered at the feeling of Blaine's lips on his for the first time in so many days. He had missed it, mostly because he was in love with this boy and he really couldn't help it.

Blaine reluctantly pulled away. But he grabbed Kurt's hand and kissed the back of it. "I'll be back love," he said sweetly.

Slowly, Kurt allowed his hand to fall from Blaine's grip as the boy ducked out of the cavern and went off to find firewood. He prayed to a God he didn't believe in that Blaine would indeed come back.

Kurt sat down on the ground and stretched out his injured leg. Santana offered him half a slice of apple. She had been cutting up one of their three apples for the four of them to munch on. He took the piece gratefully and ate it quickly, licking the juice from his fingers.

It was several minutes before Blaine returned, a fact that had Kurt worried. But when he finally did, he wasn't alone.

"Look who I found," he said cheerily. The three of them looked up from where they were setting up the rocks Rachel had collected to see Blaine with Brittany standing beside him.

"Britts!" Santana shouted, jumping up from her spot and running to throw her arms around the girl. The blonde girl giggled and hugged Santana back. She was carrying a folded blanket and the hilt of a knife was poking up from the braid in her hair.

"It's good to see you too Sanny," the blonde girl replied in a chipper voice. Kurt smiled softly, happy that Santana would likely stop worrying so much now. He and Rachel finished arranging the rocks.

"Did you get the firewood?" Kurt asked, standing up and moving toward Blaine. Blaine nodded his head and dropped a pile of wood down in front of the makeshift fire circle. "Great!"

They decided to let Blaine to set up the fire because he was the best at doing it. Kurt and Santana went to work preparing the alligator to be cooked while Brittany played with Rachel's hair and chattered away about her cat Lord Tubbington as if they were merely on a friendly camping trip.

"Britt," Santana said softly. The blonde girl stopped chattering about her cat and looked over at her. Santana put down the knife she had been using on the alligator and looked at her sadly. "Finn's dead Britt." Brittany just looked at her for a long moment. Kurt held his breath as he continued prepping the alligator.

"What do you mean Finn's dead Sanny?" Brittany asked, her voice unusually quiet and seemingly bordering on tears. Santana sighed and stood up from her place. She crossed over to take Brittany's hands in hers.

"I'm sorry Britts," she started gently. "But Finn was killed by that alligator. It's why Kurt killed it." Brittany's eyes went wide.

"But, why would an alligator want to hurt Finn?" she asked with a sniff. It was Blaine who answered her this time as he blew on the fire he had just started.

"Because he was trying to rescue Rachel from it," he said. Santana gave him a grateful look, thankful that he had chosen wording that didn't express what an idiot Finn was. Brittany's face fell and she sniffed again. Santana pulled her into her arms and hugged the girl to her.

"I'm so sorry Brittany," she whispered. Brittany just softly cried into her shoulder.

At that moment, the Panem anthem started to play and they all moved to the mouth of the cavern to look up at the night sky that they could just make out through the trees. The Capitol emblem hung there for a moment before one single face appeared across the sky.

Finn Hudson from District Eight.

A few tears wet all their eyes as the sky went blank again. The five of them returned to their fire and finished their prep in silence.

It wasn't long before the alligator had been cooked and they all sat down to eat it. Even Rachel. After remembering that the alligator was the reason Finn was dead, she wanted to get some revenge on it. The others were a bit surprised with how ravenously she took to eating the creature. But at least she was pushing her vegan beliefs aside for the sake of her own survival.

They had two blankets between the five of them. Kurt and Blaine decided to let the girls have them, though they did try to protest. But the two of them wouldn't hear of it. So, Santana and Brittany cuddled together under Brittany's blanket and Rachel used the one that Kurt, Blaine, and Santana had in their supplies. Kurt and Blaine just wrapped themselves in each other to keep warm that night.

Again, Kurt was awoken the next morning by a sound. This one a low rumbling that seemed to gradually be getting louder. Kurt was willing to bet whatever it was, it couldn't be good at all.

Carefully extracting himself from Blaine's arms, he moved to the mouth of the cavern and glanced out into the morning sunlight. He squinted his eyes. Something was moving through the trees at a distance but it was fast approaching and it was coming from the direction they had come in to get to the cavern.

It took only a mere few seconds for Kurt to realize what it was. He quickly spun on his heel and back into the cavern. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled as loud as he could, "FLOOD!"

The three girls and Blaine all shot awake, jumping slightly at the shout. Kurt was already moving quickly to gather their belongings, packing everything even faster than the day before.

"Kurt?" Blaine questioned groggily.

"No time for questions," Kurt replied. He threw the backpack onto his back and grabbed Blaine's hand, making sure his sais were firmly attached to his belt. He'd shoved the rope into the backpack as well. "We have to get to higher ground. There's a flood and it's headed this way. If we don't get out of this cavern, we're all going to drown!"

That was enough to get everyone moving. Kurt grabbed the blanket from Rachel and quickly stuffed it in the backpack before swinging it back on his back. Rachel grabbed her bow and Brittany carefully but quickly folded her own blanket.

The five of them traipsed out of the cavern and Kurt could see the flood very clearly now.

"Go!" he shouted, pushing Rachel forward. She started moving quickly, eyes on the base of the mountain up ahead. They followed her, Kurt holding tight to Blaine's hand and Santana clutching Brittany's.

Rachel being so small worked in her advantage as she was able to move so quickly. Unfortunately the others couldn't keep up with her. By the time she had reached the base of the mountain and started to climb, the water was licking at their heels.

Kurt pressed for Blaine to move faster but it was no use. The flood swept first Santana and Brittany down and than Kurt and Blaine. Rachel stopped in her safe spot on the mountain and turned just in time to see the water carry her allies away with it.

"No!" she shouted. She began moving back down the mountain, intending to face the flood and try and rescue the others but a last glimpse toward Kurt was enough to catch him shaking his head at her and pointing up. Though she was reluctant to do so, Rachel turned and continued climbing up the mountain. She only hoped the four of them would survive.

The water carried heavily, the current fast and strong. Kurt used the backpack as a floating device to keep himself above water. He was still having to spit some out though. He clung firmly to Blaine's hand and Blaine used his free hand to try desperately to grab onto a tree branch, hoping to pull them up to safety or something.

No matter how hard they tried though, they kept sweeping by too quickly for Blaine to get a firm grip and after a time, Kurt realized he couldn't hear the girls behind them anymore and he dared to glance back. They were nowhere to be seen. The flood must have forked and carried them in a different direction.

Two cannon shots rang off and Kurt's heart clenched in fear. What if those shots were for Santana and Brittany?

"Blaine?!" he yelled over the water.

"I heard!" Blaine yelled back, still trying to grab onto a passing branch.

To Kurt's horror, the water was starting to make clinging to Blaine's hand difficult, as both their hands were slippery. He carefully maneuvered their fingers to interlock so that he could get a better and firmer grip. He heaved a sigh of relief when he managed to do it without their hands separating.

But his relief was short lived when suddenly he felt something snag in the bottom of his pant leg and Kurt was stuck fast. The water current carried Blaine onward. He was stopped momentarily because his and Kurt's hands were still linked. But the pressure of the current was enough to yank them apart and Blaine was carried away.

"No! Blaine!" Kurt yelled out.

"I love you Kurt! Never forget that!" Blaine managed to call back before he was swept out of sight.

Kurt started sobbing, afraid that one of them was about to join the two cannons that had already gone off. He started kicking his leg, trying to get his pant leg free but it was no use. It was like whatever had snagged him had punctured a hole through the fabric and Kurt was too exhausted from trying to keep his head above water to try and pull his leg up and off the item.

It was then that he noticed the low hanging branch above his head and he figured, as long as he was stuck on whatever he was stuck on, he'd be able to grab hold of that branch. If he could just keep a hold of the branch until the flood had died down and was over, than he would be able to survive this.

He realized that the flood the Gamemakers had just sent at them had been sent for two reasons. One, to take out tributes, which it had apparently already claimed two. And two, to separate people. They were obviously not pleased with alliances in big numbers, especially if they weren't the Careers.

Still sobbing, Kurt reached up and grabbed onto the branch as firmly as he could manage. He could feel the sai swords trying to weigh him down and it probably would have been smarter for him to get rid of them. But he didn't dare do that. If he did, the only weapon he'd be left with was the pocketknife in the backpack.

Thankfully, the Gamemakers decided it was time to end the flood a few moments later and Kurt watched as all the water seemed to just drain out of the arena. He was now able to tell that it was a branch sticking up from the ground that had snagged his pants. Releasing only one hand so he wouldn't fall as there was no longer any water to keep him afloat, Kurt reached down and easily tugged himself free. Then he let go of the branch completely and dropped down the ground.

He was shivering like mad because a sudden chill washed over him and he was soaking wet.

Backpack back on his back, Kurt hugged himself, tears still streaming down his face. His only comfort was that there had been no more cannon shots. That told him that Blaine had at least survived the flood. Rachel was high on the mountain somewhere so she had avoided it altogether. Maybe he should go look for her. As for Brittany and Santana, he had no idea where they were or even if they were still alive. The shots had come after the flood had separated them.

Keeping his arms wrapped tightly around himself, he started walking. It wasn't long before he heard the sounds of someone sobbing. Kurt ducked behind a tree and peered around, only to see the girl from District Eleven hunched over a body on the ground. He didn't have to see it to know who it was. And as cruel as it was, he was glad because it meant at least one of the two girls was still alive.

Deciding that maybe making another alliance wouldn't be a bad thing because he would probably be better off moving with someone than he was on his own, Kurt carefully made his way over to the girl.

"Are you okay?" he asked, startling her. She looked up and Kurt could see the tear tracks running down her face. A glance to the ground confirmed what Kurt had already suspected. The flood had taken out the boy from Eleven. No wonder the girl was so upset.

She shook her head violently and tried to turn away from him. Kurt wouldn't let her though.

"Hey," he said. "I know it's hard, but he would want you to keep going. You have to survive as long as you can. We all do," he said as gently as he could. He offered her his hand and after a moment's hesitation, she took it and allowed him to help her up.

"Mercedes Jones, District Eleven," she introduced herself. Kurt gave her a small smile and shook the hand he had offered to her.

"Kurt Hummel, District Twelve," he replied. Her eyes got wide as saucers.

"You're the non-Career boy who got an eleven!" she cried out and Kurt laughed lightly. Mercedes started to back away and he frowned. "My mentor told us we were better off staying away from you and the Careers. Said we had no chance against you guys."

Kurt threw his hands up in surrender. "I just got lucky. I swear I'm not here to hurt you," he said quietly. "And I know two Careers who probably won't hurt you either." Her eyes got wide as saucers for a second time.

"You allied with Careers?" she asked in surprise. "Careers never ally with our districts," she commented with a shake of her head.

"Well District Two this year is different," Kurt replied. At least Rachel seemed to be different. Blaine he knew was different for sure.

Mercedes looked around. "Where are they?" she asked. Kurt's face fell.

"Rachel is somewhere up on the mountain. Being small, she managed to outrun the flood before it swept her," he explained before drawing a breath to keep from shaking as he went on. "I don't know where Blaine is," he added quietly. "I got snagged on a branch sticking up from the ground and the current was strong enough to carry him away from me."

Mercedes watched him for a good few moments before she spoke again. "You like him, don't you?" she asked and Kurt looked at her in surprise. "I can see it in your face when you talk about him."

Kurt looked down at the ground for a moment. "I really care about him yes but at least I know he's still alive. We were separated after the cannons went off," he said. "But my district partner Santana and Brittany, the girl from Eight, were separated from us before the cannon shots."

"You're afraid one of them was the other one," Mercedes confirmed and Kurt just nodded his head and let out a breath. "Come on, let's go find that Career on the mountain. At least you have an idea where she is," she commented.

"That sounds good," Kurt agreed. He watched Mercedes kneel down to close the blonde boy's eyes and give him one last kiss, a choked sob wretched from her throat before she got up and turned back to him.

"Okay, let's go."

The two of them started walking toward the base of the mountain. Neither of them were aware of what lay up ahead in the next day or so.

It would be a good thing if they remembered how to play hide and seek though.


	9. Cornered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with chapter nine guys! Things a little intense here. There is a canon Glee moment and the first delivery from sponsors. Though I did just realize there is something in Kurt's gift that I didn't even use later. Haha. Anyway, comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

Neither of them said anything as they began climbing the mountain. For a big girl, Mercedes was in pretty good shape. Kurt would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about the climb on her end.

He kept his eyes peeled for other tributes. Not just Rachel but Blaine, Santana, and Brittany, and anyone who might try to take them out. He was quite sure by now that he had probably found the last person he'd ally with. The girl from Three seemed nice but you really couldn't ally with everybody. And he did feel like he wanted to protect the girl from Ten but that was about it.

So far, the mountain seemed deserted and it occurred to Kurt that Rachel might be hiding out back on the other side. They had still been on the valley side of the mountain when the flood came through.

"Have you been up here already?" Mercedes asked as they continued walking along one of the mountain's many winding paths, Kurt with one hand resting on his sais, ready to pull them if he needed to.

He nodded his head shortly. "Blaine, Santana, and I spent the first night in a tunnel cave. When everyone else ran for the wood, we made for the mountain," he told her. She nodded her head thoughtfully for a moment.

"That was smart. Good way to separate yourselves from those who want to kill you," she commented. Kurt didn't need to point out that technically everyone wanted to kill everyone, even if they didn't admit it out loud. He had a feeling Mercedes didn't want to actually kill anyone if she could help it. He didn't blame her. "Did you kill anyone yet?" she asked quietly.

"Unless you count an alligator, no," he replied. Her eyes got wide as saucers.

"There are alligators in here?" she asked, her tone riddled with surprise.

Kurt nodded. "In the ocean apparently. One attacked Rachel so Finn attacked it. It ended up killing him so I killed the alligator," he explained. Mercedes seemed a bit relieved to know that Finn hadn't been killed by a tribute but the idea that there were animals in the arena that could kill them scared the hell out of her.

No more was said after that, apart from Kurt periodically calling out Rachel's name to no reply. They obviously were nowhere near her and he was beginning to worry. He wondered if she was worried about him and the other three. She obviously heard the cannons too. If she thought one of them was dead, which was still possible, she might be feeling guilty for not trying to rescue them.

They walked for a long time, much like the day before and as it got later, it got colder. Mercedes wrapped her arms around herself, despite the jacket getting heavier and warmer.

Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, they came across a small cave and Kurt ushered her inside. They couldn't build a fire because they had no supplies for that. Kurt was bad at it anyway. But at least they would have shelter for the night.

He dug around in the backpack and pulled out the leftover alligator meat, along with the blanket. He handed the blanket off to Mercedes. She tried not to accept but he insisted saying it wasn't first night he wouldn't be using it. Of course, the other two nights he had Blaine's body heat to keep him warm. Tonight he would just have his jacket.

He closed it tighter around him as he sat in the mouth of the cave, keeping watch. The two of them ate the leftover alligator meat and a little bit of the loaf of bread, which Kurt used the pocketknife to slice up.

He realized he now had Blaine's rope and an idea popped into his head that he could have used earlier. He could have tied the four of them together. That way, unless the current was strong enough to snap the heavy rope, they would have all stuck together. He hoped beyond hope that Santana and Brittany were at least still together.

Night began to fall and the familiar Panem anthem filled the sky. Kurt held his breath as the Capitol emblem appeared overhead. There had been no more cannon shots after the ones for the two tributes killed in the flood. So he only had to worry about one of the dead.

The emblem vanished and was replaced by the first of the two tributes who died that day. Kitty Wilde from District Seven and Kurt let out a sigh of relief. Santana and Brittany were both still alive. Sam Evans from District Eleven appeared overhead and Mercedes let out a small sob. And then the sky was blank again.

Somewhere he knew that Rachel, Santana, and Brittany were probably just as relieved that they were all still alive as he was. Blaine was probably relieved that the other three were okay too. He already knew Kurt was still alive, just as Kurt knew he was still alive.

Mercedes curled up with the blanket and drifted off to sleep not long after that. Kurt stayed awake. He was aware that District Eleven had been short-supplied. All Mercedes had was a pair of regular knives and a small pouch full of edible berries she and Sam had found.

Kurt continued to watch the night sky, holding his jacket tighter around him to keep in the warmth. And somehow, he had a feeling that Blaine was doing the same thing somewhere. He hoped the boy wasn't alone but then, he couldn't say whether that would be good or bad.

The seventeen year old ended up staying awake the entire night and surprisingly, he wasn't tired at all. Glancing at Mercedes, he stood up and walked out to the edge of the mountain path, taking in the surroundings and looking for signs of other tributes.

It wasn't until he heard Mercedes scream behind him that he became aware of something being wrong.

Kurt ran back to the cave only to find the boy from Five looming over the girl, a sword pressed threateningly against her stomach. Kurt swallowed the feeling of discomfort he got whenever he saw this burly boy.

"Hey meathead!" he called out. The boy spun around to glare at him and a smirky look crossed his face. "Leave her alone!" Kurt continued.

The boy dropped the sword and moved away from her, now seeming more interested in Kurt and the teenager slowly drew a deep breath. He could not allow himself to show fear as he faced this boy. But something about him unnerved him greatly, much more than Sebastian or the two tributes from Four.

The night before, Kurt had taken it upon himself to keep the pocketknife out of the backpack after he'd used it to slice the bread, and slip it into his pocket. Now, one hand slid into his pocket casually as the boy advanced on him.

The next thing he knew, Kurt was pinned against the wall with the burly boy from Five breathing down on him. His breath was putrid and Kurt could hear Mercedes call his name in fear.

"You need a breath mint," Kurt said, trying not to show how scared he was of this boy. The boy growled and then did something, Kurt most definitely did not approve of. He crushed his lips to Kurt's and his hand made to wander down the boy's chest. Kurt struggled against him for a moment before he shoved the pocketknife into the boy's side and kneed him in the groin.

This was successful in getting the boy off of him as he tried to both cup his junk and pull the tiny knife from his body at the same time. The childlike whine he gave made Kurt want to laugh but he held it in.

Instead, Kurt scooped up the backpack. "Run!" he shouted to Mercedes. She grabbed the blanket and followed him out of the small cave.

The two of them began running along the mountain path. But to their horror the boy from Five had quickly recovered and with blood staining the small wound in his side and sword in hand, he was lumbering after them. And he was rather fast, getting ready to tackle them almost.

There was a fork in the path up ahead and Kurt and Mercedes silently agreed to go separate ways so they split. Luckily, they both disappeared around a corner before the boy from Five rounded the bend that lead to the fork. He took a moment to decide which path to take and tore off to the left.

Kurt kept running along the mountain until he heard a scream. "Mercedes!" he shouted, skidding to a halt and running back the other way as fast as he could, ignoring the pain from the injury in his caff.

He reached the fork and tore up the left path, only to come to a half some feet behind the boy from Five and Mercedes who was at a dead end because she seemed to be standing on a cliff.

Kurt was about to go ahead and get the boy from behind when a hand shot out of a nook in the mountain wall and yanked him in. He startled only to find it turned out to be Rachel and he was so relieved to see her. She tapped a finger to her lips as the two of them peered out around the nook, Rachel holding her bow firmly in hand.

The boy was looming over Mercedes again, just like he had been back in the cave. Rachel readied her bow with an arrow, aiming at the boy but it seemed that luck had suddenly run out and a little lizard ended up setting off a vicious chain reaction.

The little creature scurried into the nook and bit Rachel on the foot. She stumbled with the bow and released the arrow, which hit the boy in the back of the leg. This caused him to cry out and he lunged forward, drawing his sword across Mercedes' stomach. She screamed and lost her balance, falling to her death off the cliff.

Rachel cursed and dropped the bow to grab her foot. Kurt however, was pissed. While the boy was inspecting the damage to his leg, Kurt quietly stepped out of the nook. Rachel stared at him in horror but he shook his head.

He moved to start twirling his sais through the air and the boy became aware of the whistling sound. He turned to look to see exactly what it was just as Kurt released one of the sais. The angle it flew at was crude for it ended up cutting the boy's head clear off and sticking fast to the mountain wall.

Kurt and Rachel both cringed as the boy's head rolled down the mountain path a few feet and his body dropped into the dust.

"That was brutal," Rachel commented as Kurt approached the mountain wall and yanked the sword from it. She was limping from the lizard bite on her foot but she had taken an arrow and shot the creature. It was now hanging from her belt by its tail.

Kurt picked up both the boy's sword and the blanket Mercedes had been carrying. The two knives and berries she had were unfortunately on her. They wouldn't be able to climb down to her body fast enough to retrieve them before the hovercraft came and took it away.

Two cannon shots had rung out in the blur of activity. Kurt used the boy's shirt to wipe his sai clean and the sword the boy had used on Mercedes before he held it out to Rachel.

"Carry it. We can give it to one of the others to use when we find them," he said. Rachel nodded as Kurt stuffed the blanket back into the backpack. "Let's get moving. We have to find our allies." Rachel nodded again and the two of them started down the path, intending to get themselves off the mountain.

"How did you end up on the mountain Kurt?" Rachel asked quietly a few minutes later.

For a moment, Kurt didn't answer her. He was busy turning calculations over in his head. Seven tributes dead on day one. Finn on day two. Two the day before, and now two so far on the current day. That meant the number of tributes had now been cut in half. There were twelve of them left.

Him and Santana, Brittany, Rachel and Blaine, the girl from Three, the girl from Ten, the girl from Five, the girl from Nine, both tributes from Four, and Sebastian. He wasn't sure how he felt about this.

"Kurt?" Rachel questioned quietly, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. He looked at her and sighed.

"The flood separated Santana and Brittany from Blaine and I," he started and Rachel nodded knowingly, waiting for him to go on. "And then my pant leg got caught on a branch." He nodded down to the hole in his pant leg. "Blaine tried to hold on to me but the current was too strong. It broke us apart and carried him away. After it drained out, I found Mercedes. She was crying over the boy from Eleven. We ended up coming up here to look for you," he finished.

"So you have no idea where the other three are?" Rachel asked, though it was more of a statement than a question, despite the fact it sounded like a question. Kurt just nodded his head.

It was then that he noticed the little parachute that was starting to fall from the sky. The basket was of rather moderate size and Kurt suspected there was more than one thing in there.

The two of them stopped as Kurt caught the basket and pulled off the card.

Well looky here Porcelain, your admirers are showering you with gifts. I especially liked how you killed the alligator.

Kurt rolled his eyes at the note from Sue and stuck it in his pocket before he pulled off the lid of the basket. Inside were two more full water bottles, some bandages, more healing ointment, burn ointment - which he wasn't sure why they sent that - and sunscreen.

"I feel like my dad sent me a care package," Kurt said, rolling his eyes and storing the items in the backpack.

"It's not uncommon," Rachel replied. "When you get some of the wealthier Capitolites behind you as sponsors, they tend to shower you with plentiful gifts." Kurt shook his head and reshouldered the backpack.

"Yes but usually, those go to the Careers," he said. As if on cue, another parachute and basket descended from the sky, landing in Rachel's hands.

The two of them glanced at each other as Rachel pulled off the card, which merely told her to eat sparingly and that the ration had been split in half and the other half had been sent to Blaine.

Inside the basket was a chicken leg and two baked potatoes. That meant the ration must have been two chicken legs and four baked potatoes.

"That's useful," Kurt said. Rachel nodded and they wrapped up the food and stored it in Kurt's backpack, which was now becoming overly full.

"We'll split it between the five of us when we find the other three," Rachel said as she zipped the backpack closed. "I'm pretty sure Blaine will be thinking the same thing. He'd let himself starve before he ate any of it if he doesn't find us first."

Kurt gave his head a shake. That sounded like Blaine all right. He was too kindhearted for his own good and Kurt was beginning to wonder if Blaine would end up killing anyone. He himself had just killed someone and though he didn't like it, it had been necessary. He was pissed that the boy from Five had taken Mercedes out.

"How's your foot?" he asked as he noted Rachel still limping just a bit. The lizard hung from her belt like a trophy and she sighed heavily, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"It'll be okay. Damn creature. If it hadn't bit me, I could have taken that boy out and Mercedes might still be alive right now," she replied.

Kurt let out a sigh of his own. "Everything happens for a reason. It's day four and we have now been cut by half," he commented. Rachel's eyes went wide as saucers as though she couldn't actually believe that they had half as many tributes now as they started with.

Neither of them said anything else as they continued on down the mountain. They were both trying to keep as quiet as possible and listen for sounds of other tributes that might be nearby. By not being the ones making the noise, they could at least have the element of surprise on their side.

It was sometime later, when they had reached the bottom of the mountain and had started tracking through the woods, that Kurt put a hand up for Rachel to stop. He brought a finger to his lips and tapped them.

The sounds of crunching twigs met their ears and Kurt grabbed his sais and Rachel raised her bow, pointing it in the direction of the noise. Kurt held his breath as the brush in the trees started to rustle. Whomever or whatever it was, was about to come upon them. The brush parted and…

"Blaine!" Kurt and Rachel both shouted as the curly-haired boy emerged, leaves and twigs and other things stuck in his hair, but he was alive and he was okay.

Kurt threw himself into Blaine's arms, sobbing into his shoulder and Blaine just held him tightly. Rachel lowered her bow and grabbed the sword they had taken from the boy from Five. She held it out to Blaine.

"What's this?" he asked, taking the sword from her while still keeping one arm wrapped around Kurt.

"We took it off the boy from Five," Rachel said. "After Kurt cut his head off." Blaine's eyes went wide and he looked at Kurt in surprise. The pale boy blushed.

"You cut someone's head off?" Blaine asked astounded.

Kurt bit his lip. "He killed Mercedes," he said shortly. "Long story, but she's the girl from Eleven. He…he also kind of assaulted me." This last bit was spoken in a small voice and it caused Rachel to gawk in surprise and Blaine to get extremely angry.

"What do you mean he assaulted you Kurt?" he asked, surprisingly calm. He started checking Kurt over for any signs of new injuries. He found none.

"He…" Kurt started and took a deep breath. "He kissed me." Alarm bells went off in Blaine's head and Kurt clung to him tightly. "But we don't have to worry anymore Blaine. He's dead." Blaine's only reply was to pull Kurt closer to him and press a kiss into his hair.

Rachel indicated that they had better get moving. They still needed to find Brittany and Santana and keep an eye out for shelter they could use for the night.

So silently, and with Kurt and Blaine holding hands tightly, the three of them continued their track through the woods, hoping to find their other allies before someone bad found them.


	10. Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! Next chapter and this one is more mellow than the last one. Though there is an injury obtained. Nothing serious. This marks ten chapters down, six to go! I will finish posting this two days before I fly out to California for Christmas! As always comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

The three of them continued to walk. Blaine was carrying the basket with his ration of the food delivered to the tributes of District Two. They had tried to put it with the rest of the stuff in the backpack but it wouldn't fit.

They ended up sitting down on a log and Kurt had to use one of his sai swords to cut up the two remaining apples as the pocketknife was left behind in the cave and they had no other knives. The daggers they'd collected from Finn had been washed away in the flood. Either way, after splitting the apples for a snack, they were able to get Blaine's two potatoes into the backpack, but he still had to carry the chicken leg.

"Don't worry. We'll eat part of the ration as soon as we find Santana and Brittany," Rachel said as they zipped up the backpack and stood from the break place. They still needed to find shelter before nightfall.

Kurt passed around one of the water bottles, the first one they had had now long since empty after originally being only one to five people. He packed the water bottle away and they kept walking.

They had only been moving a few minutes when a sound like running water met their ears and they glanced at each other, the three of them moving in the direction of the sound, hoping that it was something they could fill their empty water bottle with so that they would have three bottles between them, one each to sip on.

The sound turned out to belong to a waterfall that fell into a river and Kurt would be lying if he said the scene wasn't absolutely beautiful. Furthermore, behind the waterfall, there was a cave embedded in the rock. They could use that for shelter.

Blaine started toward the waterfall, intending to fill their empty bottle when Kurt put a hand on his arm. When the curly-haired boy looked up, Kurt pointed. There were two tribute jackets lying out on one of the rocks. They weren't alone in the area.

Rachel raised her bow, Kurt put a hand on his sais, and Blaine raised the sword. Kurt stepped forward and with a hard look on his face, glanced into the cave.

"Whoever's there, I advise you to come out right now!" he said firmly. There was rustling from inside the cave and the next thing Kurt knew, a familiar dark haired head appeared in the mouth, with a blonde popping up over her shoulder. "Oh thank God!" Kurt cried. He, Blaine, and Rachel all relaxed, the latter two lowering their weapons.

"I'm so glad you're still alive Kurt!" Santana got out as she ran over and pulled her district partner into a hug. She and Brittany were both stripped of their jackets, which were obviously lying on the rock. Kurt hugged her back and then hugged Brittany.

"Did you get anything from Sue?" he asked Santana. She nodded her head and went to retrieve a smaller basket than Kurt had received. But it turned out to be very helpful because it was full of fruit. Some of it had been eaten already but that was okay. Santana and Brittany didn't have a water bottle on them and the juice from the fruit would have helped keep them a little bit hydrated at least.

Kurt opened the backpack and handed her both tubs of healing ointment, the burn ointment, and the bandages. He figured with her having the medical skill, she'd be the best one to hang on to those items.

"The bandages, the burn ointment, and the second tub of healing ointment were in my basket, along with two full water bottles and some sunscreen," Kurt explained. Santana nodded and moved to bundle the medical supplies in Brittany's blanket before Kurt stopped her. "Rachel, let her look at your foot," he said firmly.

Rachel inclined her head to the side. "It's fine Kurt. A lizard bite is no big deal really," she said.

Kurt shook his head defiantly. "I don't care. Let her look at it." Rachel sighed and sat down, pulling off her boot. "You see?" Kurt asked. "That's why I'm concerned because it was strong enough to puncture through the boot."

Rachel consented and Santana went to work, carefully using water from the river to clean the wound before putting healing ointment on it and bandaging it up. She ordered Rachel to keep her boot off, at least until she had to move again.

They made plans to stay there for the night and eat through some of the chicken and potatoes so that they could store the rest in the backpack.

This time, Kurt went with Blaine to collect firewood. The two of them walked calmly together through the trees with their hands linked. Kurt was feeling so much better now that he had Blaine back. He didn't have a clue how Blaine had managed with no supplies because Kurt had all their supplies.

"I was so worried about you, Kurt," Blaine was saying as they traipsed into a clearing of trees to find the ground littered with branches and small logs they could use for the fire. They reluctantly broke apart so they could use both hands to gather wood.

"I was worried about you too, Blaine," Kurt admitted, bending over to collect a few branches. Blaine chuckled.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, until Blaine moved too close to a big tall tree and Kurt looked up just in time to see a large rock fall from the tree.

"Blaine!" he shouted. Blaine glanced up and the rock clubbed him in the forehead. Kurt dropped the firewood and ran over to help him. He was still conscious but only barely.

"Get out of here now or I'll hit you too!" came a voice. Kurt glanced up to see the girl from Five sitting in the tree with an armload of rocks. He put his hands up in surrender, before moving to help Blaine to his feet. The boy stumbled but managed to keep upright and conscious.

"Go back to camp and have Santana take care of your head," Kurt commanded him. Blaine looked reluctant to leave him. "Go!" Kurt persisted so Blaine went, gathering as much firewood as he could as he stumbled out of the clearing.

Kurt turned his eyes on the girl from Five, the one Sue had told both him and Santana they were not allowed to touch. She had another rock in her hand but instead of looking down at him and preparing to drop it, she had her eyes focused on another tree. Kurt turned his head and widened his eyes to find that there was a tracker jacker nest hanging from one of the branches. It took him only a few moments to realize what she planned to do. If that happened, Kurt was done for.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said up to her, effectively drawing her gaze back to him. She pushed her glasses up and gave him a skeptical look. "My mentor made my district partner and I promise we wouldn't hurt you," he told her quickly.

This had the girl clearly confused and she shifted in her spot in the tree. "Who's your mentor?" she asked carefully.

"Sue Sylvester," Kurt replied immediately.

The girl, whose name he now remembered to be Becky, looked thoughtful for a moment. She stayed up in the tree but released the rock back into her pile and Kurt relaxed a little.

"I believe you," she said after a moment of silence and when Kurt gave her a surprised look, she went on. "Sue volunteered for the Games so her sister wouldn't have to play. I have the same condition her sister did," she told him.

And suddenly it all made sense. Why Sue had been outraged when she had seen Becky get reaped. Why she'd been muttering about the Capitol not learning their lesson after her sister. Why she'd told him and Santana they were not to harm Becky and to let someone else live with that guilt.

So he decided to do what he thought would appease Sue.

"Why don't you come down from that tree?" he asked. "We have food at our camp." Becky quickly shook her head.

"Thanks for the offer but no," she said. "My district partner took off on me and the only weapons I have are rocks. He didn't even want to stick together." Kurt resisted the urge to cringe at the mention of the boy from Five. No way was he going to tell her that her district partner was dead and certainly not that he had killed him.

Kurt was silent for a moment, contemplating. "You can't stay up in that tree. What if the Gamemakers decide to set a fire?" he asked. Becky shrugged.

"Than I'll die with the accomplishment that I kept myself well hidden from tributes, including Careers," she said. Kurt was astounded. This girl had already willingly accepted her death like she knew she had no chance in hell of winning.

"You don't want to fight to live?" he asked quietly.

Becky laughed humorlessly. "Let's face it miner boy," she said. "I'm smaller than all the other tributes out here. I'm handicapped, which makes everyone think I'm an easy target. There's nothing to fight for when all I have are rocks." She paused for a moment. "Besides, dying in a natural disaster would be like rubbing it in everyone else's face."

Kurt couldn't exactly see her logic but he wasn't going to try and convince her if her mind was made up. He did consider her to be one of the bravest tributes in this whole thing if she was willingly welcoming her own death.

"Collect your firewood and get out of here," she said then, gripping a hold of one of her rocks and narrowing her eyes. Kurt merely nodded his head and ran back to his pile of firewood, picking it up and with one last fleeting look in her direction, hurried out of the clearing.

Kurt arrived back at their campsite to the sight of Santana bandaging Blaine's head. He dropped the firewood into the pile and Blaine was relieved to see he had come back unharmed.

"What happened?" Santana asked, not looking up from her work. "The hobbit boy won't say anything."

Kurt shook his head. "The girl from district Five is sitting up in a tree with a pile of rocks," he explained. Santana was able to garner from that what had happened. Kurt hesitated a moment before he said, "I think we should give her the sword."

The others stared at him in surprise for a moment. Santana and Brittany still didn't know that Kurt had beheaded the boy from Five and that was how they had gotten the sword.

"Are you crazy?" Rachel asked, eyes wide as saucers. "Look what she did with a rock. Who knows what she'd do with a sword!"

Kurt shook his head. "That sword belonged to her district partner and he abandoned her." He paused for a moment. "It's only fair that she get some sort of Justice."

Rachel furrowed her brow. "Let me get this straight. You want to honor the girl from Five even though she clonked your boyfriend in the head with a rock?" Kurt felt his stomach flip at the word, 'boyfriend'. "No offense but if I were in your position, I'd attack her."

"We can't," Santana told her simply, wiping her hands on her shirt. "Sue made Kurt and I promise we wouldn't hurt her." Rachel gave her a funny look, surprised that their mentor would be advising them not to harm someone.

"It's because she has the same condition Sue's sister did," Kurt said quietly. The story of Sue Sylvester's reaping was no secret. Everyone knew she had volunteered for her sister, mostly because it was the only volunteering in District Twelve's history. That they knew of anyway. "Becky told me so," he added.

Santana was starting to see the same sense that Kurt had. "That's why she had so much adrenaline to win," she noted. "She was so angry at the Capitol for even thinking about allowing someone with her sister's condition to compete."

Kurt nodded his head. "And that's why she was so outraged about Becky too." He looked around at the other four. "And Becky has already accepted her death. I invited her to come have food but she declined, saying she'd rather stay in the tree."

"What a brave girl," Rachel remarked. "But if she wants to stay in the tree, a sword won't do her much good."

Kurt shrugged. It was Blaine who answered her. "It's a way of honoring District Five I guess. Tomorrow, we'll stop by and give her the sword on our way out."

But then Kurt had a revelation. "No," he said changing his mind and they all looked at him confused. "She's really smart. If we give her the sword and tell her it belonged to her district partner, she'll know one of us killed him. And whether he abandoned her or not, it may give her incentive to harm us."

Rachel was nodding then. "Kurt's right. If we want to keep the peace with her, we keep the sword."

"Is anyone going to tell Britts and I how you got the sword?" Santana asked, Brittany nodding her head in agreement.

Kurt and Rachel glanced at each other and sighed. "I cut his head off," Kurt admitted, watching Santana's eyes go wide. He then proceeded to tell her and Brittany everything that had happened after they were separated by the flood, filling Blaine in on the full story as well.

Night began to settle in as the fire was started. Blaine's head was patched up as best as Santana could patch it. They warmed the chicken and potatoes and ate sitting on the rocks by the river. It was a good deal warmer in this area than it had been on the mountain or in the cavern a few nights prior.

As they ate the portion of the food they decided to heat up, the Panem anthem began to play and they watched the Capitol emblem materialize in the sky. It was followed by the faces of the only two tributes who had died that day. There had been no more cannon shots.

David Karofsky from District Five, followed by Mercedes Jones from District Eleven.

Kurt felt a stab of hurt when he saw Mercedes' face imprinted in the sky. He felt bad that he wasn't fast enough to save her life. But at least she would be with Sam now, wherever they were, if there was some sort of beyond.

The night was warm enough there that they didn't actually need the blankets to cover them up. So instead they laid them out on the floor of the cave and laid down on them, Kurt using the backpack as a pillow. Blaine pulled him into his arms and they just held each other all night long, exchanging lazy kisses before drifting off to sleep. Kurt was exhausted after having been up all night the night before.

For the first time since he had been in the arena, Kurt awoke in peace the next morning. The sound of the waterfall was quite soothing and he yawned and stretched a bit, causing Blaine to stir beside him. The curly-haired boy blinked his eyes open and smiled at Kurt.

"Good morning beautiful," he said sweetly. Kurt smiled back at him and pecked a kiss to his lips.

"Good morning yourself gorgeous," he replied, just as sweetly. Blaine couldn't help but grin at the warmth that spread through him. He was so very in love with this boy it wasn't funny.

But it wasn't a good thing either. Any other time but now would have been perfect to fall in love. The only problem was, if not for the Hunger Games, Kurt and Blaine wouldn't even know each other existed, much less fall in love. They lived in two different districts that were a world apart. District Twelve was the poorest of all the districts. District Two was the Capitol's greatest ally though Blaine had never condoned allying with the Capitol.

The fact that in the end of this, at least one of them would have to die was what made the timing bad and Blaine started to consider his options. Not that he would tell Kurt this but if it came down to it, he would gladly take his own life so that Kurt could live and become victor. Kurt had so much more reason to go home alive. The only person in Blaine's family who wanted to see him alive again was his brother Cooper. His parents had said as much in their good-byes. Do our district proud, die with dignity and all that.

Trying to shove those thoughts from his mind for the time being, Blaine pulled Kurt close and kissed him softly. He was going to make the little time they had left count at least. That was what mattered to him.

But he still refused to tell Kurt that if one of them had to die, he would take his own life to let Kurt live.

It wasn't long before the five of them were packing things up and moving to get a move on. This place was an amazing safe haven but they couldn't stay there forever. Someone would likely find them eventually.

Kurt moved to fill all three water bottles with water. The medicinal supplies along with the leftover ration of chicken and potatoes were packed into the backpack, which Kurt slung onto his back. Seeing as he was the one who had snagged the pack, it was only fair that he carry it. The supplies it had come with were technically his anyway.

"Are we sure we don't want to give Becky the sword?" Santana asked as they started walking away from the site. She and Brittany were zipping up their jackets.

Kurt nodded his head. "Positive. I won't risk her cooperation. We have been ordered not to hurt her so there would be no fight on our end if she chose to attack."

"Besides," Blaine pitched in. "There's no telling whether she stayed in that tree or moved to another one."

Kurt shook his head. "If she moved it wouldn't be too far. She has an itch to hit a tracker jacker nest that was in a nearby tree."

Brittany stopped so sharply, Santana stumbled forward. "There are tracker jackers in here?" she asked and Kurt turned to look at her, nodding his head. "Doesn't the Capitol know how dangerous that could be?"

Kurt didn't know what to think. After twelve deaths and four full days, now going on five, Brittany still seemed to think that this was all a game. He exchanged a glance with Santana who shrugged in defeat. It seemed that Brittany would not get the gist until she was met with her own death.

"Yes Britt, I'm sure they do," Santana said. She held onto the girl's hand tighter as a look of fear crossed her face and the five of them continued onward in silence.


	11. Good-bye And Captured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter eleven. This is a turning point in the story and a sad moment. Our allies run into a bit of trouble and Kurt finds himself in a binding situation. They've been pretty lucky up until this point, but has it possibly started to run out? Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

With half the tributes left, it was now becoming less likely that they would run into someone. A vast arena with twelve people left in it. They could be scattered everywhere. And with the five of them teaming up and the remaining three Careers likely teaming up, the chances were minimized even more.

So it came as no surprise when they seemed to walk for quite some time without running into anybody. Kurt's mind kept wandering to Becky and he couldn't help but feel guilty about the way he had just left her behind. He wondered if he should have tried harder to convince her to come with them.

He was lost in thought as they continued to walk on. Blaine was holding his hand, their fingers entwined. Rachel was leading the pack, her bow clutched firmly in her hand. Santana and Brittany were bringing up the rear of their little group, also hand in hand.

Kurt could hear Brittany quietly sniffling and knew that she was crying about something. He couldn't fathom what but he heard Santana trying to shush her and soothe her.

The day seemed to be dragging on, given the fact that there had been nothing eventful so far and well, walking did not really do much to pass the time. Kurt was willing to bet if they got through this day with no tribute deaths, day six would bring with it another natural disaster. Though day six would likely bring that anyway. They hadn't had one since day three.

Kurt was amazed that he was able to tell the days apart. By now they had already begun to blur together, seeming to just be one long stream of alternating dark and light.

It was going to be a lazy day, Kurt could feel it, even as they stopped in a small clearing for lunch. Rachel examined the trees around them, making sure no one seemed to be nearby. It was deserted apparently so she lowered her bow.

"I'm going to go collect some berries," Brittany said quietly. Even though they didn't really need berries, they let her go. If that would help her smile again than it was fine by them.

Santana was using one of her throwing knives to cut up some of the fruit. She passed it around for them all to munch on as Blaine used some of the leftover wood from the night before to make a small fire so that they could heat up the leftover chicken and potato rations to go with their fruit. And Rachel still had the lizard.

Minus the chicken and potatoes, that left them with some of the fruit, the jerky, the dried fruit, the lizard, and a loaf and a half of bread. That wasn't too bad considering they were five days in.

Of course, this would turn out to just be the calm before the storm as suddenly, an earsplitting scream hit the air and Kurt was reminded of hearing Mercedes scream the day before. A shudder rolled up his spine.

"Brittany!" Santana cried out. She dropped her throwing knife and jumped up, running into the thicket of the woods. Kurt leaped from his spot and hurried after her. He didn't want her just running head on into the fray. She was his district partner after all and they were one of three districts still fully intact, the other two both being Career districts.

Santana reached the site of the scream first to find one of Brittany's feet caught in a bear trap. And how the hell had someone gotten their hands on that? Were there bears in this arena? So far all Kurt could remember seeing was the alligator and the lizard.

A glance around the site revealed a second trap and a few rabbit snares, one of which had a rabbit snared in it. Whomever had set this up was good at hunting.

Santana ran forward and attempted to pry at the trap. Blood had already soaked through Brittany's pant leg where the teeth had sunk into her flesh. Berries scattered the ground around her.

Kurt hurried forward. "Let me," he said, gently moving Santana out of the way. She didn't protest, knowing that Kurt knew more about hunting than she did.

He ran his hands over the trap, trying to get a feel for the design so he could find the release catch. He was trying to hurry as fast as he could because there was no telling whether the person who set these traps was nearby or not and they had to get Brittany out of danger before Santana could tend to her injury.

Kurt was so engrossed on trying to get the trap open and had almost succeeded that he didn't hear the whistling sound as something came soaring through the air.

At the exact moment he popped the trap open, Santana let out a wail and a choking sound came from Brittany. Kurt looked up just in time to see the blonde girl fall backwards and Santana catch her in her arms. There was what looked like a ninja star embedded in her neck. Blood poured from the wound. She gasped and sputtered and spit up blood. Her eyelids fluttered.

Santana was sobbing hysterically and Kurt stood up, looking around the vicinity and pulling out his sais. He held them up as Santana collapsed to the ground and pulled a dying Brittany into her lap.

"Show yourself!" Kurt called out. Two people came out of the trees with smug looks on their faces. One was the big girl from District Nine and the other was the Asian girl from District Three. Kurt narrowed his eyes. The Asian girl had a second ninja star in her hand. The other girl had a length of rope.

"I knew that trap would come in handy," the big girl said. The Asian girl nodded her head shortly. "And you're a good shot."

Kurt opened his mouth to say something but the cannon went off then and he glanced over at Santana who for a moment cradled Brittany's lifeless form.

The next thing that happened, happened so quickly, Kurt couldn't even fathom exactly what had happened. Santana sprung up and launched herself at the big girl and the two of them got into a shoving match but as good as her fighting skills were, Santana was no match for the bigger girl from District Nine.

"Santana!" Kurt shouted, replacing his sais and rushing forward to try and help her. The big girl gave her ally the slightest of nods and Asian girl grabbed the rope from the big girl's belt. Without warning she tackled Kurt to the ground and proceeded to expertly tie him up. He expected her to take his weapon but she didn't touch it.

Instead, she merely started dragging him off. Kurt knew better than to struggle against her. "Blaine!" he shouted out. "Rachel!" he followed, hoping that they had heard him. If they didn't it was too bad because the Asian girl stripped her jacket and tied it around his mouth in a makeshift gag.

Another cannon shot went off and Kurt felt his heart clench. In that moment, even though he couldn't see it happening, he knew. He knew Santana was the one that cannon had been for. She was no match for the big girl from Nine. It took all of Kurt's strength not to shed a tear for his district partner. He would not appear weak.

The Asian girl continued to drag him for some time but Kurt was numb, so much so as the day he had first entered the arena. A part of him had realized that the fight was not real to him until Santana's life had been taken from her. District Twelve was now down one tribute. Kurt was the sole remaining tribute from that district. He could feel it.

He allowed his gaze to fall down to the ring he was still wearing around his neck. His mother's luck had kept him alive so far. But was his luck about to run out? Were the girl from Three and the girl from Nine about to kill him? But if they wanted him dead, why tie him up and drag him off first? It didn't make sense.

The sound of a fire crackling caught his attention and he looked up to find that he was in a small campsite. The Asian girl dragged him over to a tree, where she untied the rope to tie him around it, removing his makeshift gag and he found he wasn't their only hostage. The girl from Ten was tied to the tree as well, staring down at her lap.

"What do you want with us?" Kurt ground out, looking up at the Asian girl. She smirked.

"You're bait for the Careers," she said shortly. Kurt looked at her in surprise. "It's all part of mine and Lauren's plan. They kill off everyone else and then there's no one left to find so they come searching for you two and find you tied up and easy to kill. Then Lauren and I will pounce on them and take them out. They'll never see it coming," she said. "It'll help us win. They took out our partners in the bloodbath."

The girl from Ten, Marley, Kurt reminded himself, lifted her head slightly. "They took out my district partner in the bloodbath too," she said. The Asian girl slapped her across the face.

"Shut-up!" she snapped. Well, this girl was a perfect example of the Games turning people manic. She had seemed so sweet and nice before they had been brought into this.

But Kurt had realized a few things that she and Lauren seemed to overlook and he started to laugh. The Asian girl turned a hard look on him and raised her hand to slap him but just held it there, not moving.

"You wanna tell me what's so funny Twelve?" she spit out, merely referring to Kurt by his district. Kurt narrowed his eyes at her and allowed a smirk to cross his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell Lauren was approaching, the confirmation that Santana had indeed just been killed by the girl.

"I think you're forgetting something," he said. The Asian girl just looked at him so he went on. "Firstly, your plan won't work passed the final four. In case you've forgotten, that is the point at which the Gamemakers play the game to force all the remaining tributes to the cornucopia." She paled for a moment at this but than a smirk crossed her face.

"Ah but you see, there can't be a final four without killing you two. And the Careers certainly will not turn to killing each other until everyone else is dead," she said rather smugly. But Kurt did not deter from his direction of conversation.

"Fine than," he said. "But assuming you two make it to the final two, which is highly unlikely because all the Careers got at least a ten and I got an eleven, might I remind you, good luck on killing each other."

She froze. He did have a point. All of the Careers had a higher score than she and Lauren did and she was looking at the only non-Career to get in double digits. Not to mention, if by some miracle her and Lauren made the final two, she would have to kill Lauren in order to win.

"We'll worry about that when it comes to it," Lauren stated as she arrived. She was carrying the rabbit. "Dinner Tina," she said, holding it up.

The two of them turned their attention away from their two hostages and started babbling on about plans and pointless stuff. Kurt tilted his head back and stared up at the sky. Now tied to the tree, his wrists were somewhat free and he was beginning to formulate a plan of action to free himself and hopefully Marley. It was just bad luck on Lauren and Tina's part that they opted not to take his sais from him. At least Rachel and Blaine still had the backpack.

Trying to make himself nonchalant, Kurt let his mind wander to the loss of Brittany and Santana, along with what Blaine and Rachel might possibly be doing right at the moment.

"You know," Marley said in a small voice. "Even if you don't survive this, you're going to die a legend."

Kurt glanced over at her. She had a point. He and Santana had already lasted longer than any District Twelve tribute had since Sue Sylvester had been in the arena. And he had the highest recorded score of any District Twelve tribute in history. He would die a legend. But he couldn't let himself die, not now, not with Blaine still out there wanting to love him.

"I'm going to get out of this. And I'll get you out too," he told her. Marley looked at him with eyes wide as saucers. Not because she didn't think he could get out of it, but because he intended to get her out as well.

"Don't worry about me. I'm not important. I'm just a scared fourteen year old girl from District Ten." She wasn't even looking at him then and Kurt felt bad that she seemed to have such low self-esteem. What in all of Panem had happened to make her so unconfident?

"Hey," he said, prompting her to look up at him finally. "Don't say that. You lasted this long on your own. I've come all this way with allies and my district partner was just killed," he told her. "You are important just to get this far on your own."

It was enough to get a small smile out of her. Their conversation was interrupted by Lauren tossing them each a rabbit leg.

"Eat up, if you can get your hands to your mouths," she said, breaking out into laughter and walking away from them. Kurt narrowed his eyes and looked down at the rabbit leg in front of him. It was very little meat but it was food.

He bent his leg carefully and managed to use his foot to slide it closer to the tree trunk. At least they were tied in a sitting position. Stretching his arm out at full length, Kurt managed to just grip the leg with his fingers, securing it in the palm of his hand.

He tore the meat off the bone and held it out for Marley. She shook her head slightly. "Eat it," he said firmly.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I've been lucky to have food everyday. You look like you're famished. I'll be fine. Eat it please." She looked like she might protest again but in the end she merely nodded her head.

"Okay."

Fortunately, they were both tied above the elbow so Marley was able to easily bend her arm up to get the rabbit to her mouth. Kurt kept pulling the meat off the bone and handing it to her and then he maneuvered to get the other rabbit leg for her too. He had never been so grateful that he was so flexible. Marley practically devoured both legs in no time at all, suggesting that she hadn't eaten in at least a couple days maybe.

They sat in silence for sometime after the early dinner. Though Kurt and his group had stopped for a late lunch break, it was still rather early for dinner. And his mind wandered back to what Blaine and Rachel were doing. He wondered if they thought he was dead.

No more cannon shots erupted the rest of that day, satisfying Kurt's worried mind that Blaine and Rachel might be hurt. And when the Panem anthem started to play, he almost didn't want to look up and get the confirmation that his district partner was dead. But he forced himself to look anyway.

The Capitol emblem appeared in the sky, followed by two faces that were very familiar to Kurt. Brittany Pierce from District Eight and Santana Lopez from District Twelve. Kurt resisted the urge to cry. Santana was dead. Her sharp tongue and odd way of comforting people would never be known again.

Kurt remembered the promise he had made to Santana all those days back, when she asked him not to try and rescue her if there was no other option than to shove her out of the way or put himself in harm's way. But he thought he could have saved her from this. Why hadn't he just used his sais? Because he hadn't been thinking that was why. He just wanted to move and do something already. Not plan it out. And now she was gone.

It was then that Kurt knew he had to win this, for Santana's sake if not for his own.

For the second time since he had been in the arena, Kurt stayed awake all night. He was watching the brush for signs of Blaine and Rachel, but mostly, he was in an extremely uncomfortable position. How he could ever hope to get any sleep was beyond him.

Lauren and Tina were both asleep on the ground, one of them had managed to obtain a sleeping bag. Kurt narrowed his eyes. If he could get away from them, he would take that sleeping bag with him. He'd give it to Rachel and he and Blaine would now share both blankets.

He wondered where they were, if they were safe, if they were looking for him. Or now that it was just the two of them, would they forget about him and do what was expected of them as Careers? No, Kurt didn't think they would do that, at least not Blaine.

Rachel had been kind of vile when they had first run into her on day two, not exactly pleased with Blaine for not allying with Careers. But she must have been on the defensive about Finn because she'd been completely cooperative and helpful since then. So there was really no way to tell.

All Kurt knew for sure was that despite whether or not they were looking for him, he was likely going to have to go about this as if he was on his own.

His hands itched for the sais still in his belt. He should go ahead and do it now, while his captors were sleeping but he wouldn't get away with the sleeping bag that way. He had to somehow do it while they were awake, create a diversion.

Little did he know, the necessary diversion was going to come in the form of something that would be smoking them out so to speak the very next morning.


	12. Burning Inferno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this a little later this morning that I would have liked. I've been having trouble getting the page to work properly. Anyway, things are about to go up in flames in a moment. You'll see what I mean when you read it. But it's starting to draw closer to the wire here. Four chapters left after this and the last one is an epilogue. As always comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

Everything was quiet. Marley was somehow managing to sleep. Lauren was curled under a blanket. Tina was bundled in the sleeping bag. And Kurt still sat awake and watched. Like the last time he had stayed up all night, he didn't feel tired at all. Actually, it was a wonder he had even gotten any sleep in the arena. He could only imagine what his dad was going through. Likely not even sleeping at all. When he got home, he was going to have to fix that issue.

It started at the crack of dawn. There was lingering smoke in the air but Kurt attested that to the extinguished fire. He didn't think anything of it.

That was until the smoke in the area seemed to intensify and grow denser and Kurt hacked a cough. This was not good. Not good at all.

Struggling a bit, Kurt managed to get his nose and mouth tucked under the collar of his jacket. It provided some protection against the smoke. It was growing thicker by the second and Kurt became aware that something was very very wrong.

And that was when the first sounds of crackling met his ears. Kurt turned his head in the direction of the sound to catch a flicker of orange in the distance and it was coming closer. It was coming closer fast.

"Oh shit!" he cried out. Startling Lauren who was the nearest of their two captors. The big girl sat up and blinked her eyes. She immediately started coughing and threw her hand over her mouth.

Kurt watched as she turned her eyes in the direction of the flames. Scrambling to her feet, she gathered her blanket and Tina's ninja stars as well as any other supplies in the area, sent Kurt a smirky little grin, and took off running. She was abandoning Tina.

Moving quickly, Kurt finally did what he had been planning to. He grabbed one of his sais and used it to cut through the rope binding him to the tree. Then he took it and cut through Marley's ropes as well. She flopped forward onto the ground.

"Marley," he got out in the harshest of whispers. She didn't respond. "Marley," he repeated a little louder but there was nothing. Her face was already ashen and he realized then that she had been the closest to the approaching fire. Having been asleep, she'd already inhaled a great deal of smoke before the fire had even gotten all that close. Smoke before fire after all.

Instinctively, Kurt picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. He knew by the fact that a cannon had not sounded that she was still alive, though maybe only barely.

With one glance over his shoulder, he started running in the opposite direction of the fire, which just so happened to be back toward Blaine and Rachel and their break site.

But in his haste, he kicked a small metal pail he hadn't realized they had. The noise startled Tina awake and she sat up coughing and sputtering. She looked around, noticing all her supplies and her companion were gone. She stood hastily and cursed under her breath that she had been betrayed.

And then her eyes landed on Kurt with the unconscious Marley thrown over his shoulder. "Oh no you don't!" Tina shouted. She placed her hands on her hips and started moving forward toward him.

Kurt continued moving backward, eyes wide as saucers as he increased his pace and set his gaze rather on behind Tina than on the girl who was marching quickly toward him in anger. He was kind of frozen in awe.

And then, about ten feet from him, Tina let out a wretched scream as the fiery blaze seemed to catch up to her and licked right up her left leg. In moments she was engulfed in flames and that snapped Kurt out of his reverie. He turned on his heel and ran, cutting a dent in everywhere he placed his steps as he ran with Marley thrown over his shoulder.

A cannon went off behind him. Someone, likely Tina, was dead. It didn't deter him. The fire licked away at the woods in the arena and Kurt kept running, faster than he had ever run before.

His mind was only occupied with thoughts of getting away and possibly saving Marley who was still completely unresponsive. She may have already ingested too much smoke. But the point was he had no room in his head to even think about whether Blaine and Rachel were okay and at least getting away from the fire. His only thoughts were that he needed to get away and fast.

Kurt could feel the beat of his heart pounding hard in his chest, could hear the crackling of the flames as they advanced behind him, could see the glow of orange practically surrounding him on all sides. He was terrified. How was he ever going to survive this? He had made it through the flood but what if that was a fluke?

Trying to stay positive, Kurt kept right on running forward. If his calculations were correct about the ocean surrounding the perimeter of the arena he would run right into it if he kept going straight.

Sure enough, he broke through some trees into a clearing that bled into a beach and Kurt could barely believe his luck. The flames were still advancing behind him but if he could just get them into the water, they would be all right.

Another cannon went off and Kurt felt his heart sink. What if that was for Blaine or Rachel? Were they okay? Were they thinking like he was too? About getting into water?

In his sudden change of thought, Kurt stumbled in the sand and fell forward. Marley flew from his arms and fell, still unconscious, behind him. He turned around to try and get her back but she had landed some feet away by misfortune and if he tried to go after her now, they'd both be swallowed up by the flames. So he wouldn't be saving her but killing them both.

"I'm sorry Marley," he whispered sadly, scrambling back to his feet and making a beeline for the water. It was just before he reached the edge that he heard the cannon go off and he glanced over his shoulder to see that the flames had engulfed Marley's body. He fought tears as he turned and dove head first into the ocean.

He held his breath, staying under the water for some time. By the time he finally came up for air, it was to see that the fire had miraculously burned itself out, leaving the land, surprisingly, only a little bit charred. One would have to look closely to realize that the fire had ever even been there in the first place.

"Damn Gamemakers," Kurt muttered under his breath. He only hesitated a moment before he swam to shore, remembering that there were alligators in the ocean and he was quite sure he might have seen one.

He scrambled out onto the beach and laid down flat, breathing heavily and staring up at the sky.

Three. The fire had taken out three tributes, two of which Kurt knew were Tina and Marley. The third he didn't have any clue. But it meant that of Rachel and Blaine, at least one of them was still alive. Kurt kind of felt bad for hoping it was Blaine who had survived the fire if the cannon was for one of them.

He had no way of knowing for sure though until he either ran into one of them or nighttime came and the dead's faces were flashed overhead. He wasn't sure he could wait that long.

And so he lay there, breathing in and out slowly and coughing just a little bit. Three more tributes down, that left seven of them still alive. Lucky number seven. Kurt was willing to bet most of them were Careers. They likely were. Before the fire, there were only five non-Careers left. Kurt, Tina, Lauren, Marley, and Becky. At least two of them were dead. That left only a maximum of three of the seven remaining tributes to be non-Careers. Kurt was one of them.

With everything that had happened so far in the Games building up to this moment, after a fire on day six, Kurt felt overwhelmed and he just broke down in tears. Santana was dead and he felt for her family so bad. Brittany was dead and she had thought the whole thing was a game. Blaine might still be alive and Kurt was terrified about the fact that they wouldn't be able to both walk out of the arena alive. There could be only one winner. In the end, one of them would be expected to die.

Kurt sat up, remembering the outburst from Santana all those days earlier. It was time to put an end to this madness. He was going to leave this arena alive and if Blaine had survived the fire, he was going to do it with the curly-haired boy on his arm. Kurt had a plan and gosh damnit if it didn't work, absolutely nothing would. Either they both walked out, or neither walked out.

Feeling a sort of new resolve within him, Kurt pulled his sais from his belt and moved to wash them off briefly in the ocean. He leaned forward and started to drink his fill. With the backpack having been with Blaine and Rachel, Kurt's only supplies were his sais. The water bottles were in the backpack.

He didn't feel bad about giving Marley all the rabbit. He had been lucky enough to have had access to food the whole time he'd been in the arena so far. He would be okay without it for a while. Besides, it was water you needed more than food to survive.

For that purpose alone, Kurt decided that he would traipse through the woods on the beach border so that he could run for water when and if he needed to. As long as he was on his own, he was going to need a water source.

Turning on his heel, Kurt walked back to the cover of the trees. There was still a bit of smoke lingering in the air and he threw his arm across his mouth to keep from breathing it in.

He had been walking for some time when he heard the voices. "Ouch, damnit Blaine that stings!"

"Well hold still than! I'm sorry Rachel but I'm not as medically inclined as Santana was!"

Kurt stopped in his tracks. Though the words were harsh, the sound of their voices was music to his ears. They were alive. They were both alive. He stood behind a tree and peered out in the direction of their voices.

He could just make out Rachel's form lying on the ground. Her shirt was pushed up a little bit and Blaine was knelt beside her, ointment on his hands. Kurt noticed his hands were shaking and he had to wonder why. It was evident that Rachel must have suffered a burn in the fire. The back of Blaine's jacket was lightly singed but he seemed otherwise unharmed.

"I know," Rachel replied. "You are just usually more steady than this. Look at you, you're shaking like crazy."

Kurt saw Blaine set the tub of burn ointment down and he heard him release a sigh.

"I'm scared Rach," he admitted. "What if we were too late? What if one of those cannons was for Kurt and we didn't find him in time to save him?" Blaine's voice was choked with tears and Kurt felt his heart break.

Rachel pushed herself up to a sitting position, cringing slightly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Blaine, Kurt is strong and smart. And he has that ring with him. A token like that is sure to bring him luck." Blaine sniffed. Rachel sounded so sure of herself. "He wouldn't have come all this way just to die in a fire," she finished. Kurt had to agree with her there.

Blaine broke into sobs then and Rachel wrapped him carefully in her arms. Kurt could just make out Blaine repeating that he loved him over and over and decided that now was the best time to reveal that he was okay. He couldn't bear to see Blaine like that. So broken up.

But the good news was, since Blaine was alive, his plan could be carried out. Now he just had to make sure that he and Blaine were the final two. No offense to Rachel, she was great and all but for his plan to work, he needed her out of the picture. He would just make sure he wasn't the one to do it.

Blaine's continued sobs snapped Kurt out of his reverie. Right, he needed to put an end to the boy's pain.

"Thank God!" he called out, coming out from behind the tree and moving toward them. Rachel looked up and Blaine spun around.

"Kurt!" they both cried out. In a mimic of Kurt's own action two days earlier, Blaine threw himself into the boy's arms. Kurt clung to him and buried his nose in his hair.

"I thought you were…" Blaine choked out. Kurt peppered his neck with soft kisses and shushed him the best he could.

"It's okay sweetie. I'm okay," he told him softly.

"What happened to you Kurt?" Rachel asked, wincing as she pulled herself up to her feet. "All we heard was you calling our names but by the time we came running, Brittany was dead, Santana was almost out of commission because that big girl was beating the tar out of her, and you were nowhere to be seen."

Kurt sighed and stayed cuddled in Blaine's arms. The two of them exchanged a chaste kiss as though trying to make sure the other was really still alive.

"Lauren, the big girl from Nine, she set the trap that caught Brittany by the foot," he started to explain. "But Tina, the Asian girl from Three, threw the ninja star that was embedded in Brittany's neck. Santana charged at Lauren and the two of them got into a fight. I decided to run at them and try and stand up for Santana because there was no way she had a chance against Lauren.

"Well, Lauren had a rope and Tina took it and tackled me, tied me up and started dragging me off." Rachel looked wide-eyed and Blaine just hugged him tighter. "That was when I called for you guys and I would have again but Tina used her jacket to make a makeshift gag around my mouth. She dragged me back to their camp where she tied me to a tree. I wasn't their only hostage though. They had the girl from Ten, Marley, too.

"Tina proceeded to tell me that they were using us as bait for the Careers. Part of her and Lauren's plan to win the Games. Well that plan was ruined this morning."

"What happened?" Blaine asked then. Kurt squeezed him tightly and pressed a kiss to his cheek lovingly.

"I ended up staying awake all night and smelt the smoke before the fire. I let out an expletive, which woke Lauren up. She collected all their supplies and ran, leaving Tina behind without even waking her," Kurt said.

"How did you get away?" Rachel asked him.

"For some reason, they left me with these," he replied, pointing at his sais. "No idea why they didn't take them. But I used them to cut myself and Marley free. But Marley was already unconscious from smoke inhalation so I just picked her up and threw her over my shoulder and ran. I ended up kicking a pail on the way out of the camp and that woke Tina. She tried to come after me but was oblivious to the fire. As a result, the fire got to her before she got to me. Tina's dead."

Rachel and Blaine glanced at each other and then looked back at Kurt. "And then what did you do?" Rachel asked.

"The only thing I could do. I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran. All the way until I hit the beach. I was right about the ocean circling the perimeter," he said, stretching his arms out wide. "But I stumbled on the sand and fell forward. Marley, still unconscious, flew backward out of my arms several feet. And as much as I didn't want to, I had to leave her. Otherwise the fire would have gotten both of us. So I turned tail and ran, dove into the ocean and didn't come up again until the Gamemakers extinguished the fire," he finished.

"And then you found us," Blaine said with a smile.

"And then I found you," Kurt confirmed, kissing him deeply. Blaine didn't complain. But the two of them clung tightly to each other all the more.

"So Marley and Tina are dead," Rachel commented, choosing not to react to them kissing like they were. "Who was the third cannon than?" she asked.

Kurt broke the kiss and shook his head. "No idea. But if it wasn't a Career, that makes five of the people left Careers and two of us non-Careers. And if by chance it was a Career, than there are four Careers left and three non-Careers."

Rachel tapped her chin in thought. "Okay, so besides you, who are the other two possible non-Careers?" she asked.

"Lauren and Becky," Blaine said before Kurt could. Kurt was surprised. The boy was awfully observant. Blaine blushed and smiled up at him.

"I love you," was all Kurt could say.

"I love you too," Blaine replied. Rachel rolled her eyes fondly and picked up the backpack, holding it out to Kurt who took it gratefully and slung it onto his back. And then Rachel picked up the blanket that had been Brittany's. Kurt then noticed Blaine had both Brittany's knife and Karofsky's sword. Kurt was willing to bet Santana's throwing knives were in the backpack.

Without a word, the three of them started moving. With seven tributes left, they were aware that it was beginning to get down to the wire and the next natural disaster would come when the tributes were down to four. For safety reasons, they began to make their way back toward the cornucopia. Should they be in the final four, they wouldn't have much farther to run to where the Gamemakers wanted them once that disaster was sent their way.

"I'm sorry about Santana, Kurt," Rachel spoke softly. Kurt sighed and he felt Blaine's grip tighten on his hand.

"I am too. She and I had always kind of been friends. She's been nothing but courageous and fierce throughout this whole experience," he said in a sad voice. "I'm really going to miss her." He couldn't help the tear that fell then. "May she rest in peace," he finished.

And he knew that everything he did in the Games from the moment Santana had died the day before right until his own very end would not just be for himself or his dad or even for Sue, but it would be for Santana too.

He promised right then and there to do her memory proud.


	13. From Seven To Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting down to the wire now guys! Last chapter before the final battle at the cornucopia! Then there will be an aftermath chapter and the epilogue follows that one. Anyway, this is a crucial moment in the story and there is some minor smut in this chapter, like really minor, as in not written in smutty detail but it's there. It was weird for me because I'm used to writing explicit. But the rating on this story is for death and violence, not sex. Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

With the night closing in and the cornucopia not far away from where they were, Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel made their way to a small cove. A shelter big enough for the three of them was made from three protruding rocks. They shifted inside and started to set up camp.

Rachel unfolded the blanket that had been Brittany's and wrapped it around herself, sitting in the mouth of the shelter with her bow and taking first watch. Both she and Blaine wanted Kurt to sleep as he hadn't slept at all the night before but he refused to shut his eyes at least until after they knew who the third tribute that died in the fire was.

Soon enough, as they were munching on what was left of the fruit and the lizard which Rachel had finally opted to cook, the Panem anthem began to play, followed shortly by the Capitol emblem appearing in the sky overhead.

Kurt clutched tightly to Blaine's hand as the emblem disappeared and the faces of the fallen tributes began to flash across the sky.

Tina Cohen-Chang from District Three, Becky Jackson from District Five, and Marley Rose from District Ten.

Becky.

Becky was the third tribute who died in the fire. The very thing Kurt had warned her about, given her decision to stay up in the tree. He couldn't help the choked sob that left his throat when he saw her face in the sky. Blaine held him closer.

Soon after the sky went blank again, Kurt found his eyelids growing heavy. His head was resting on Blaine's chest and the boy had wrapped the other blanket around them both. It was the first night Kurt had spent in the arena with a blanket to keep him warm. Nevertheless, he snuggled closer to Blaine who dropped a kiss to the top of his head.

"Sleep Kurt," he whispered gently and Kurt didn't need to be told twice. He allowed his eyes to fall shut finally and he drifted into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

Blaine held him all night and Rachel stayed up in the mouth of the shelter armed with the bow.

So the final seven was sealed, made up of five Careers: Blaine, Rachel, Noah, Quinn, and Sebastian and two non-Careers: Kurt and Lauren. That was both tributes from District Two, both tributes from District Four, the male from District One, the female from District Nine, and the male from District Twelve.

Even though the Game was still far from over, Kurt had to be proud of himself. He was the first District Twelve tribute to make the top seven since his own mentor was in the arena and he was determined to make it out alive. And he was going to take Blaine with him.

Morning dawned rather peacefully for once and they treated themselves to a breakfast of bread and dried fruit. That left them with one loaf of bread and some jerky. They needed to scour for food if they hoped to make it another day. But Kurt had a feeling they wouldn't need to.

The Games had started with a bloodbath and they would likely end with a bloodbath. But for Kurt's plan to work, he and Blaine needed to be the last two remaining tributes. If someone killed Blaine, Kurt didn't think he would want to walk out alive but if that were the case, he would do it for his father and for Santana, but he would never love again. He wrapped a hand around the ring around his neck and asked for hope and luck from his mother that this would play out in his favor.

But there was another thing Kurt wanted as they looked up at the sound of music, the beautiful song of a mockingjay, the first any of them had heard in the arena. Kurt saw the lovely little bird flit from one tree to the next. He allowed it to distract him for just a moment before he went back to his thought process.

There was one more thing Kurt wanted. He wanted to be the one to kill Sebastian. He could not believe his luck at not running into him the entire game so far. It seemed he had made the right choice by choosing to go up the mountain from the start of the bloodbath rather than run head on into the woods.

The three of them had come a long way since the start of the game. It was hard to believe it had only been a week really. This was day seven and the sun was shining brightly overhead. Kurt could feel it in his bones that this was it. The climax of their entire time being here was just around the corner.

"I want to say something," Rachel said suddenly, tearing her eyes from where she had also been watching the mockingjay. Blaine and Kurt looked at her as Kurt rested in between Blaine's legs, his head lying back against him.

"What is it Rachel?" Blaine asked quietly. Kurt nodded his agreement at the question.

Rachel sniffed slightly before she looked back at them. "Regardless of the outcome and what happens here at the end, I'm so happy to have played the game with both of you, even if I was a bit skeptical at first," she started, a watery smile on her face. "And if one of you should win, you definitely deserve it so congratulations ahead of time since I obviously can't give it afterward," she went on, laughing a little.

Blaine leaned forward and took her hand gently. "You deserve it more than I do Rach," he said and Kurt looked up at him for a moment. "You're meant to be a star. You need to get out of this alive to do that. Your family loves you and wants to see you come home. Mine…well the only one who wants to see me come home is my brother." Rachel and Kurt both frowned at that and then a challenging look appeared on Blaine's face. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to fight for it."

Rachel smiled. "Good. Don't give up your shot at winning because you think I deserve it more. If anything, winning may be what you need to show your parents you're not worthless," she told him.

Kurt got up and moved so that he was sitting, straddling Blaine's lap and facing him, arms around his neck. He smiled at him sweetly.

"Blaine, you are worth something because you have my heart," he said quietly. "I love you so much and you are everything to me. I can't imagine my life without you." Blaine felt himself tearing up. A part of him was afraid that Kurt would take himself out if Blaine didn't make it.

"Promise me something Kurt," he said softly. Kurt just inclined his head to the side and waited for him to go on. "Promise me that if I die, you will keep fighting to live. Promise you won't kill yourself because I'm dead."

Kurt let out a small gasp and had to fight to hold back the tears that started to brim in his eyes. He slowly nodded his head. "Only if you promise me the same thing," he whispered in a choked up voice.

"Deal," Blaine replied

"I love you so much," Kurt said, hugging him tightly.

"I love you too," Blaine said and the two of them pressed their lips together in a passionate kiss.

Rachel slowly stood up from her spot and started to walk off toward the wood, bow in hand. "I'm just going to see if I can hunt down a rabbit and give you two a little privacy for a while," she said with a wink.

Kurt and Blaine watched her walk off before Kurt turned to look back at the boy he loved. "Blaine?" he asked.

"Yes Kurt?" Blaine replied.

"Make love to me," Kurt whispered.

And so Blaine did. He carried Kurt back into the small shelter to give themselves some semblance of privacy and lovingly undressed him. Kurt undressed Blaine and the two of them laid down upon the blanket. They made love, slow and sweet and passionate, taking their time to permanently mark each other's bodies in their memories for all eternity because this may be the last time they ever get to do this.

Kurt felt completely comfortable in his own skin, revealing his most private assets to this beautiful boy who had captured his heart. It was when he and Blaine became one that he felt complete, he felt whole, he felt a part of him he hadn't known was missing was found at last.

The feel of Blaine's naked body on top of him was something Kurt didn't think he would ever forget. Not even after he was dead, whether that be by the end of that very day, or in seventy years from then. He would never forget it. He committed every thrust of Blaine's body to memory, cherished every time Blaine hit his prostate, and reveled in the afterglow when the two of them came together, spilling over rivers of pearly white, one inside, and one over the top.

And when Blaine leant down to lick Kurt's seed from his body, Kurt committed that to memory too. The way Blaine's tongue felt running over his hot skin, the way he looked licking up the mess, the love in his eyes when he locked them with Kurt's.

And after it was all done, Blaine moved up his body again and sealed their forever love with a sweet kiss.

They had just finished redressing when Rachel returned with not one, but two rabbits. She had a knowing smile on her face and Kurt flushed, feeling slightly self-conscious with the hickey that was just visible under the collar of his jacket. Blaine had no qualms about marking his territory. That hadn't stopped Kurt from doing the same to the other boy.

"We better get moving, but keep close to the cornucopia," Rachel said. The two boys nodded as they packed away their blanket and moved from the shelter, Kurt slinging the backpack onto his back once more.

They had only been walking for about fifteen minutes when all hell broke loose.

It started with a noise like thunder, which was soon accompanied by a war cry. The three of them spun on their heel to find Lauren charging them down, one of her hands raised. In it, she held one of Tina's ninja stars. Her eyes were locked on Kurt as he was her obvious target.

The next few moments happened so fast, Kurt was hardly sure they had happened at all. In an instant, Rachel was standing in front of him with her bow raised. An arrow was shot and flew through the air. It struck Lauren in the chest, exactly where her heart would be.

The girl from District Nine froze and stared wide-eyed but apparently, she saw nothing for a moment later, she fell backward, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. The cannon went off.

Kurt found himself breathing hard. With Lauren dead, that not only brought their number down to six, but it meant he was the last non-Career standing and in a way, that put a target over his head. One that was blinking solid red. Because not only was he the last non-Career left, but he was still the only non-Career to get higher than a nine. In fact, Sebastian was the only other person who had gotten an eleven. They were supposedly evenly matched.

But Kurt hardly had time to even think about that because Rachel made a sudden gasp for breath and the next thing he knew, she had fallen forward with a knife embedded in her back, and Blaine had removed the rope from the backpack Kurt still had on his back. Again, the cannon went off. Rachel was dead.

The pale boy had only to raise his eyes to find the girl from District Four standing there looking smug. And then there were five.

Kurt glanced around and was horrified to find that he and the girl from Four seemed to be the only ones there now. Along with the two newly dead tributes. Blaine was nowhere to be seen. This was not good. The girl, Quinn he thought her name was, started advancing on him, pulling the knife from Rachel's back as she came.

Instinctively, Kurt began to back up, grabbing a hold of his sais and preparing to fight her off. He heard rustling behind him and before he knew it, her district partner, Noah, had tackled him to the ground. Miraculously, Kurt managed to hold on to the swords as he went down. He swiped at Noah with them, successfully drawing a cut across the boy's arm.

While he was wrestling with Noah, he couldn't keep his eye on Quinn who was advancing with the knife and it dawned on Kurt that Noah was a diversion. Of course, these two were partners. They would be working together until the only way to win was to off each other.

Closer and closer Quinn came. More and more Kurt wrestled with Noah, trying to throw the bigger boy off of him.

But then, a sudden choking noise filled the air and Kurt and Noah both paused to look toward Quinn. The knife had fallen from her hand as she moved to raise both hands to her throat, around which was a thick rope and behind her, Blaine was pulling the ends of it so tight it had to be crushing her windpipe.

"This is for Rachel!" Blaine shouted from behind her, pulling even tighter. Quinn's face was turning red and her hands scrabbled at the rope, trying to get a grip to pull it away. Kurt half expected Noah to jump off him and run to Quinn's aide, but he just stayed where he was, watching with his eyes wide in surprise. He was frozen to the spot.

Moments later, Quinn collapsed and the cannon went off again. She was dead. And then there were four.

"And that was for Kurt," Blaine said, looking down at the body. Fear seemed to quench Noah all of a sudden and he jumped up, eyes darting between the two boys before he turned and ran into the woods.

"We'll see you again shortly mohawk," Kurt snapped. Blaine walked over and pulled him to his feet.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Perfect," Kurt replied. Though he made a sad sweep with his eyes around at the three dead girls. So Lauren had attempted to kill Kurt, Rachel had shot her with an arrow, Quinn had stabbed Rachel with a knife, and Blaine had choked Quinn with a rope. Yep, Kurt was definitely a target. He was the cause of three more deaths.

On the bright side though, he had made the final four. Kurt was one of the four remaining tributes left. Now he just had to take out Noah and Sebastian and then he would be home free to pull off his plan.

He allowed his eyes to narrow as he watched the place where Noah had disappeared.

"Final four," Blaine commented. "You ready for this?" Kurt allowed a small smile to cross his face.

"Bring it on," he said. "Do what you want to Noah, but leave Sebastian to me." This scared the living hell out of Blaine. He knew there was no one in the arena Sebastian wanted dead more than Kurt but apparently there was no one in the arena Kurt wanted dead more than Sebastian as well. They both wanted the same thing about each other.

The final battle was about to commence. Kurt grabbed the ninja star from Lauren's hand and searched her for more supplies. He found two more of the weapon but that was about it.

Blaine grabbed Quinn's knife and when he searched her, he found extra bandages and another package of dried fruit. Kurt moved to grab Rachel's bow and arrows. He passed off the backpack to Blaine and swung the quiver onto his back. The bow being his second best weapon, he figured there was no harm in using it as a backup.

Glancing around as though they were expecting the driving force that would bring the four of them to the cornucopia, Kurt and Blaine waited but nothing happened.

"Come on," Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand. "I don't think they're going to do anything while we're expecting it." Kurt nodded. Blaine had a point. They were in the final four and they knew very well what would happen next. There was no way the Gamekeepers were going to start the final battle if they were expecting it to happen.

"Let's go back to the small shelter and finish off the food we have left, maybe cook the rabbit. If we're heading into a major battle, we're going to need all the energy and strength we can get," Kurt suggested as he and Blaine started walking.

"Good point," Blaine replied.

Kurt lost himself in his thoughts as the two of them made their way back toward the small shelter they had spent the night in. Here he was in the final four, about to enter the biggest battle of his life. He just needed for himself and Blaine to be the final two.

Wrapping his hand around the ring around his neck, Kurt sent a sort of silent prayer to his mom to just get him over the last hurdle he needed to win this thing and get him home to his father.

Kurt couldn't even imagine what his father was feeling right at the moment, much less all of District Twelve. He remembered all the way back to Reaping Day, when he had been saying good-bye to his dad and he had been so sure that he wasn't going to last passed the bloodbath. And now, here he was on day seven, in the final four. He was the only tribute left who wasn't a Career. He was quite sure, no one anticipated him to be in the final four.

As they both sat down to make use of the rest of their food and water, two parachutes tied to baskets descended from the sky. And Kurt was very surprised. It was the first gift he'd received since back on day four.

He and Blaine exchanged looks. Kurt opened his basket first only to find a small jar of black paint. Confused, he looked at the card from his mentor.

Congratulations on making it farther than anyone since my great battle Porcelain. Here's a little gift from me. It's war paint. Skewer those bastards and carry young Burt Reynolds out with you, alive.

"War paint Sue? Seriously?" he asked aloud, shaking his head. But the part that touched him was that she was encouraging him to get Blaine out alive. It was that right there that showed something in just how much Sue was against these Games. He looked up at Blaine who was holding a bracelet. "What did you get?"

Blaine looked up, slightly astounded. "It's from my mother," he said in surprise. "She…she sent it as a good luck charm for me in the final battle."

Kurt just stared at him for a long moment. He knew how much this must mean to Blaine. His parents had practically written him off when he had been reaped. Now his mother wished him luck in the final battle and was serious about it.

"Well than," Kurt said, "Let's throw on some war paint and prove to them why they believe in us."

A broad smile crossed Blaine's face and he slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. Kurt grabbed the jar and unscrewed the lid. He and Blaine both smudged two black lines under their eyes, kissed once lovingly, and broke out in laughter.

That was until the ominous buzzing sound filled the air.


	14. The Battle At The Cornucopia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! The final battle! This is the last chapter of the arena. The next chapter is the aftermath and the final chapter is an epilogue. Did you guess what that sound was that Kurt and Blaine heard? Or is this a surprise to you? Comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

"Do you hear that?" Blaine asked as they gathered their things and stood up, ready to fight the big fight.

Kurt nodded and looked over his shoulder. "But where is it coming from?" Blaine just shrugged and shook his head. In retrospect, the buzzing sounded like it was coming from every which direction. It was like it surrounded them.

Suddenly, Blaine's eyes were wide as saucers as he looked beyond Kurt and Kurt whirled around. Flying their way were two familiar looking insects. Two very dangerous familiar looking insects.

"Run!" Kurt shouted. He and Blaine turned heel and started pounding dirt toward the cornucopia. He had expected a tidal wave, a monsoon, an earthquake, maybe a tornado, or an avalanche from the mountain, some sort of natural disaster to chase them back to the cornucopia. He certainly had not anticipated being chased by tracker jackers.

Tracker jackers were a lot like bees. But they were much worse. One sting could cause a welt that may grow to the size of an orange. And tracker jacker venom was poisonous. You could survive one sting maybe but multiple stings were extremely dangerous. The venom caused strange dreams and hallucinations. There were stories of people who suffered massive stings and lived to tell the tale going absolutely mad because that was what tracker jacker venom could do to you.

That wasn't even the worst part though. The worst part had to do with the very name of the creature, which was one of the Capitol's muttations. There were random nests all around the woods in Panem and the Capitol just didn't care. But they were called tracker jackers because they tracked the person that aggravated their nest, so it wasn't like you could outrun them.

Kurt glanced over his shoulder at the two tracker jackers who were chasing them. This had to be the Gamemakers' doing because neither he nor Blaine had upset one of their nests and in truth, the only one Kurt had even seen in the arena was the one Becky had wanted to hit with a rock. Though he knew that couldn't be the only one.

It was a moment later that Kurt wished he didn't have such sharp eyesight. Around the neck of one of the tracker jackers was a little metal diamond with a number twelve and the letter 'f' carved into it. And suddenly Kurt got it.

He shoved Blaine to move faster and noted movement out of the corner of his eye. The Gamemakers' plan was working. The tracker jackers, whom Kurt had just realized were embodiments of the twenty dead tributes, were herding them toward the cornucopia.

And at the point they reached it, it seemed that every single one of them was more focused on taking out the tracker jackers than each other.

"What do we do?" Sebastian cried out as the four of them came together back to back, the swarm of twenty tracker jackers closing in on them. Kurt would be lying if he said he wasn't pleased to hear he actually sounded scared.

"We have to kill them!" Noah shouted. Kurt could feel the weight of the bigger boy pressed against his back. "Otherwise they'll take us all out and we can't very well fight each other while trying to fight off the jackers at the same time!"

Kurt gave his head a shake. "Killing them is not that easy," he said. He noticed Noah glancing at him from the corner of his eye. Blaine was on the other side of Kurt and he grabbed his hand and looked at him.

"What do you mean Kurt?" he asked quietly.

"Those aren't just tracker jackers," Kurt replied, releasing Blaine's hand to pull an arrow out of the quiver now on his back. "They're embodiments of the dead tributes. Look, they all have district gender markers around their neck! And there are exactly twenty of them."

Behind him, he heard Sebastian's breath hitch and he chanced a glance at the boy before loading the arrow into the bow, intending to just take the Santana tracker jacker out. He couldn't show any mercy here and he knew she would rather rest in peace than threaten his life.

But Sebastian looked downright scared and it occurred to Kurt that the boy must be terrified of the insect itself. That could later be part of his downfall and gave him the upper hand. Thinking about that in his favor, Kurt aimed the arrow at the Santana tracker jacker.

"Sorry Tana," he whispered before he shot. The arrow impaled the tracker jacker and took it out of the sky. It fell to the ground, lifeless. One down, nineteen more to go.

It seemed Kurt taking the first one out was all that was needed to kick things into high gear and the four boys were suddenly swirling around the cornucopia, trying not to get stung and take out the insects at the same time.

Kurt kept shooting arrows until the quiver was empty. Rachel had about ten arrows total. Out of those, he managed to take out six jackers, including the Santana one. He didn't want to risk collecting the arrows and shooting again so he pulled Tina's ninja stars out and prepared to throw them.

Blaine was swiping Karofsky's sword through the air, successfully slicing a couple of jackers in half, one of them being the Rachel jacker and he looked down at it apologetically for a moment until another jacker came right at him and he had to duck. Blaine's two added to Kurt's six meant eight jackers had been taken out.

Noah merely had a small knife and he was not having much more luck beyond not getting stung. Sebastian was so terrified that his spear kept missing the mark by several feet and he merely resorted to running around the area, giving up on trying to kill the things. It didn't help that the one that embodied his district partner was on his tail.

So in short, the only two who were successfully taking any tracker jackers out were Kurt and Blaine.

Kurt still had the ninja stars in his hand and he narrowed his eyes before getting an idea. He moved to climb up on top of the cornucopia and saw Blaine stare at him with wide eyes, wondering what the hell he was doing. But Kurt just threw him a grin and Blaine dropped and rolled to avoid yet another jacker. There were still twelve left.

Kurt could see everything from atop the cornucopia. Noah trying to stab at the jackers and avoid getting stung at the same time. Blaine continuously dodging a jacker that seemed to be particularly interested in him and a sharper look told Kurt it was the jacker of the boy from District Five. His eyes narrowed shortly. And Sebastian, was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, his spear long forgotten and stuck fast in the ground. Kurt rolled his eyes.

He took a moment to narrow in on the layout of the jackers before he gave a sharp nod of his head. "Blaine, move!" he shouted. The curly-haired boy glanced up and dove out of the way, just as Kurt sent one of the ninja stars flying in his direction. It sliced through not one, but two tracker jackers, the boy from Five one included and he couldn't help but to feel smug.

Kurt had never used ninja stars before but he was looking at them as no different than throwing his sai swords and he always had great aim with those so he figured it wouldn't be too hard to adapt.

He used the remaining ninja stars to take out two more jackers, leaving eight left to kill.

But the moment he climbed down from the cornucopia, things changed. The tracker jackers, those that were left began turning and flying away from them. The Gamemakers were withdrawing the attack and Kurt wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because they were tired of watching the tributes fight off insects rather than each other.

He went around collecting the arrows and the ninja stars as Sebastian seemed to realize there was no reason to keep cowering behind the tree he had run behind. Blaine was staring down at the dead jacker that had been Rachel. Or an embodiment of her. Kurt came and placed a hand on his shoulder.

The fight with the jackers may be over but it had served its purpose. It got the four remaining tributes back to the cornucopia. And it had served another purpose. Sebastian's tough guy I'm better than you persona was all an act. With him still recovering from being scared shitless, he wouldn't be much of a fight for Kurt. It was slightly a shame.

"Remember what we discussed," Kurt said, eyes locking on Sebastian as he started to pull himself together and realized that now was the moment of truth. "Do what you want with Noah, but Sebastian is mine." Blaine nodded his head shortly.

"Noah only has a knife though. You sure I shouldn't make it a fair fight?" Blaine asked. Kurt turned his eyes on him and smiled softly.

"Oh Blaine, always the generous one." He pecked a quick kiss to his lips. "But I'm sure. This is a fight to the death. Having the advantage will work in your favor and we need to be the last two standing." Blaine was confused by this but Kurt just pecked another kiss to his lips.

And that was when all hell broke loose again.

Kurt had barely enough time to react as Sebastian had suddenly grabbed his spear and ran at him. He felt the sting of the spear head slicing a cut into his arm as he whirled away. Blaine took that as his cue to charge at Noah and he looked so small running into a fight with the much bigger boy but Kurt tuned it out.

Sebastian was stabbing at him with his spear but Kurt kept whirling out of the way, or bending back or maneuvering himself so that he didn't get hit.

"Stay put and let me kill you grandma!" Sebastian spit out. And that grated on Kurt's nerves. He had to think on his toes if he was going to get through this. Sebastian seemed to have recovered from his terrified state nearly completely if not completely and he was not taking any chances.

Kurt turned high tail and ran. He made for the back of the cornucopia some feet away, a plan formulating in his head. Behind him he could hear the sounds of Blaine and Noah fighting but he didn't dare look. He didn't want to see who had the upper hand.

His ears picked up a whistling sound and without looking back, he sidestepped, wincing as the spear head sliced through his left shoulder. He hadn't sidestepped enough to keep from getting hurt but at least he'd managed to keep from being fatally injured. And he had kind of been hoping that Sebastian would the throw the spear. The fact that he would have to go and collect it would slow him down and give Kurt added time to carry out his plan.

Sure enough, Sebastian had to go after the spear that had stuck fast in a tree a number of yards away. Kurt used the time to climb up the back of the cornucopia, taking care to move quickly so that Sebastian wouldn't see him.

Sure enough, crouched low to the top of the cornucopia, Kurt was out of sight when Sebastian turned around and looked in his direction. The meerkat boy was slightly confused as to the disappearance of his prey and Kurt didn't dare move from his position.

After a moment Sebastian seemed to think that Kurt was hiding like a coward. He took his spear and turned his attention to the two boys still fighting. Kurt switched his gaze in that direction. Blaine was holding his own, using the sword to block Noah's every jab with the knife.

Suddenly, Sebastian's spear came flying through the air between them and Blaine moved back just in time to merely be grazed. Noah wasn't so lucky. The spear ripped a deep gash in his stomach and he dropped to his knees, clutching the injury.

Blaine saw this as his opportunity. He took the sword and looked down at Noah. "Rest in peace," he whispered before drawing the sword across the boy's neck. Blood spewed from Noah's mouth and neck and he fell forward heavily. The cannon went off. And then there were three.

Sebastian who had still given up Kurt for running to hide like a little coward, ran to collect his spear and then turned his focus on Blaine. Kurt knew what he was doing. Attacking Blaine so that Kurt would come out from wherever he was hiding and try to protect the boy he loved. Kurt would be lying if he said he didn't feel even the slightest bit worried because Sebastian had scored eleven. Blaine only had a ten. This made them unevenly matched in a sense. And Blaine was more likely to surrender.

Kurt slowly stood from his place on top of the cornucopia and grabbed his sai swords. Blaine and Sebastian seemed to be sword fighting, sword to spear and it was then, that Kurt got an idea. He focused his aim on that spear and began twirling his sais. Sebastian was backing toward the cornucopia as Blaine surged forward in his battle.

"Just a little closer," Kurt whispered under his breath. "Perfect," he added a moment later as Sebastian wandered into the precise position he needed him in. Smirking, Kurt let one of the sai swords go and watched it sail through the air and hit its target right on the money. It sliced through Sebastian's spear and cut it in half, rendering the weapon useless.

Sebastian tore his eyes away from Blaine in surprise and looked up to see Kurt smirking down at him from the top of the cornucopia. Blaine had followed the boy's gaze and grinned at Kurt.

Kurt took Sebastian's momentarily stunned stance as his window of opportunity. He replaced the remaining sai in his belt and pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back. It took Sebastian only a moment to realize what Kurt was doing and he turned tail and ran. But this was exactly what the seventeen year old had been hoping for.

Loading the arrow, he narrowed one eye and zoomed in on Sebastian. And then he pulled back on the string of the bow, and released.

The arrow flew through the air with lightning speed. It hit its mark, right into Sebastian's back. But the force of the arrow, coupled with the distance it had flown, pushed it all the way through until the head was poking some inches out of the boy's chest. Sebastian faltered and fell forward onto the ground, unknowingly pushing the arrow back into his body and doubling the damage.

The cannon went off.

Kurt could not help the wide grin that crossed his face as he climbed down from the cornucopia and came to stand beside Blaine. He had done it. He had managed to get himself and Blaine into the final two and now it was time to put his plan into action. His plan that would hopefully end this madness once and for all.

Blaine, still holding the sword, watched Kurt calmly walk over and pick up the other sai. He pulled the remaining one from his belt and turned to face Blaine, one sai in each hand.

"Kurt, I want you to kill me," Blaine said quietly and Kurt stared at him with wide eyes. "You're the one who needs to win this and go home." Kurt slowly walked back to him.

"I'm not going to do that Blaine. I could never bring myself to kill the boy I love," he said, looking deeply into his eyes. Blaine swallowed heavily. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. Kurt hadn't told him his plan yet.

The curly-haired boy drew a breath. "If you won't do it, I'll take myself out." He raised the sword and prepared to drive it home into him but Kurt frantically shook his head and Blaine froze.

"No Blaine," he said. "I know we made a promise to go on if the other died, but I made myself a promise yesterday after the fire. And I promised myself that either we both walk out alive, or no one walks out alive. That's why I needed us to be the final two."

Blaine lowered the sword and looked at the two sais Kurt was holding. "So you're saying, either they let us both live or we threaten to kill ourselves," he said quietly and Kurt nodded his head slowly.

"I can't live without you Blaine. It would hurt too much because I love you. So, I don't want to be alive if you're dead." Blaine's eyes softened and he smiled lovingly at Kurt.

"I don't want to either Kurt," he said. Kurt glanced down at his sais and Blaine nodded his head. That was all the confirmation Kurt needed. He leaned forward and pressed a searing kiss to Blaine's lips, imprinting their taste on him for all eternity, in case this should end badly.

Kurt pulled away and maneuvered so he had one sai pressed to his own stomach and the other pressed to Blaine's. And then he looked up at the sky.

"Listen up Capitol, I know you can hear me!" he started and swallowed thickly. "The way I see it, you have two options. Declare us both winners and let us both walk out of here alive or have no winners for the first time ever. Blaine and I are in love. That's right, you heard me, in love!" His stance became stronger and his confidence grew. Blaine just watched him, never moving from his own stance. "We refuse to kill each other because we can't live without each other. So as you can see, I am prepared to kill us both at the same time! You can pull one of your little nasty tricks to kill one of us off, but I guarantee you if you do, the other one will take their own life and follow suit so either way, you end up with twenty-four dead tributes and no winner this year. So I suppose you have to ask yourselves, what would be the lesser of two evils? Having two winners or having no winners?"

As soon as Kurt was finished, Blaine thought of something to put in. "You should be ashamed of yourselves, taking enjoyment and pleasure in watching innocent children die and kill each other each year!" he started. "All so you can assert your power over Panem. Well, I bet you wouldn't find it such a thrilling event if it were your own children in here fighting for their lives, would you? And District Two - yes I'm talking to my own district - are you all idiots or something? We're supposed to be the Capitol's greatest ally and yet, that doesn't save us from having to send our own children to the Games, does it? No! The only thing it gets us is a look the other way when we break the law by pre-training for the Games!" He huffed a breath. "Think about that!"

Both boys fell silent and waited. Kurt pressed the sais a little more firmly for good measure. Not enough to do any harm but enough to show that he was serious.

They waited for what felt like an eternity until finally, "Congratulations to both of you! You have won the Hunger Games!" Kurt and Blaine both broke out into wide grins. Kurt dropped his sais and threw himself into Blaine's arms, embracing him happily. "Citizens of Panem, the victors if the ninety-third annual Hunger Games, from District Two, Blaine Anderson! And from District Twelve, Kurt Hummel!"

Kurt and Blaine could hardly believe it. They were about to both walk out of the arena, with their lives. They could both see the hovercraft already coming to get them.

It was over. It was finally over.


	15. Victorious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! This is the last chapter! I have an epilogue to put up tomorrow but that's it. I want to take a moment to thank all my readers because it's you guys that make me want to write. After the epilogue goes up tomorrow, I'm going to switch my focus and hopefully update some of my other stories. I feel so accomplished that I finished this one, mainly because I've noticed there are very few completed Glee/Hunger Games crossover fics.
> 
> Also, if anyone would like to be a secondary beta for me - as I actually go back and edit all my writing myself and I know I miss a few little things - please let me know in a comment. I'd give you my tumblr but I don't actually ever really use so…:P
> 
> Anyway, comments and kudos make me smile! Enjoy!

Kurt blinked his eyes open some time later. He found himself lying in a rather comfortable bed, warm and sated and marveling at the fact that he was actually in a bed.

Turning his head to the right, he spotted Blaine in the next bed over and a soft smile crossed his face. The wound Blaine had sustained from the rock Becky had conked him on the head with and the grazing from Sebastian's spear were both properly tended to. And Blaine looked clean for the first time in days. His hair was properly tamed, loose curls framing his beautiful face and his skin seemed to shine in the light of the room.

Kurt looked down at himself, noting that his arm was in a sling because of the damage Sebastian's spear had done to his shoulder. His forearm was wrapped up due to the cut from said spear and the wound he had obtained on his right caff from that same spear on the first day had been properly cleaned and dressed. It dawned on him then that all his injuries were sustained from the same weapon by the same person.

He shook his head at this revelation, trying to remember the moments after he and Blaine had been announced the winners of the Games.

The hovercraft had come and rescued them from the arena. And all Kurt could remember after that was his body filling with exhaustion as the adrenaline rush finally died out. He had collapsed and drifted into a state of unconsciousness.

And now, he felt better than he had in a long time. He had survived the Hunger Games. He was a victor now and that meant that Sue's job was finally over. But did that mean that his job would never begin? It remained to be seen whether the Capitol had taken their words to heart or if they were merely just trying to save their skins. Kurt was willing to put money on the latter. At least they had tried.

"Well Porcelain, nice to see you awake." Kurt turned his head to see Sue, Emma, and Holly standing in the doorway to the room. He offered the faintest of smiles because he knew, as good as he felt now, it wasn't going to last.

Kurt was prepared to face months of nightmares, of reliving those moments in the arena, of the fear he felt every time he was separated from his allies and didn't know if they were dead or alive, of the relief he felt knowing that at least he hadn't been there to watch Santana take her last breaths.

The three of them entered the room and Sue took a seat beside the bed. "I'm proud of you Porcelain, you and young Burt Reynolds over there," she said, nodding her head in Blaine's direction. Blaine was still sleeping or whatever but Kurt could see the rise and fall of his chest.

"How long have I been out?" he asked quietly.

"A couple days," Sue replied and she actually laughed warmheartedly at the wide-eyed expression on his face. "That's the thing about being in the arena Porcelain. Your adrenaline rush is on such a constant high that you never realize how exhausted you actually are." Kurt got what she was saying.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position. "So, what happens now?" he asked, fearing the answer. Sue sighed and he knew then that his bet had been right on the money.

"Now you both go on the district tour and life goes on as normal. You prepare to train next year's tributes," she said, a hint of defeat in her voice. Kurt knew he should have expected as much but he had hoped even in the smallest shred of hope, that he would have made a difference in some way.

He turned his head to look over at Blaine and felt a pain deep inside his chest. Nothing was going to change so what did this mean for them? Would Blaine be made to go back to District Two and himself to District Twelve and them never able to see each other until the next Games? And then that ending the moment a new victor from District Two was crowned?

Kurt couldn't bear the thought of never being able to see Blaine again, now that they were out with their lives. Sue gave him a knowing look.

"You did provoke one change, though I'm not sure what brought it about," she said, drawing his attention from Blaine and back to her. He looked at her curiously. "Victors have been granted the right to travel freely between the districts and to move districts if they so choose." Kurt's eyes were wide as saucers and he glanced back at Blaine.

So even if they hadn't put a stop to the Hunger Games, they would not have to worry about being kept out of each other's lives. Kurt found his heart swelling for the boy he loved and he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. Blaine was his everything.

Nothing else was said between any of them as the four of them sat in a comfortable silence while he watched Blaine sleep.

It was another day before Blaine came back to the world and had his own moment of praise with his mentor, stylist, and escort. He and Kurt marveled at each other as they continued to recover.

It wasn't until the day they boarded the train to head off on their district tour that they had the most serious discussion the two of them had ever had in their lives and probably ever would have for days to come.

Blaine reached across the table in the dining car of the train and took one of Kurt's hands in his, smiling gently at him.

"Kurt, I want to talk to you about something very serious," he said quietly. Kurt set down his breakfast fork and inclined his head slightly to one side before drawing a steady breath and trying his best to remain calm.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" He asked. The smile on Blaine's face only grew and Kurt felt his heart swell triple its normal size. Whatever Blaine needed to discuss, couldn't possibly be a bad thing if he was smiling so big.

Blaine cleared his throat and looked at him sincerely. "I've decided to move in with you in District Twelve." Kurt's eyes widened in surprise. He knew Blaine was aware of the new law but he always expected he would be the one moving to District Two if one of them moved. Despite now having a gorgeous home in Victor's Village, he couldn't imagine why anyone would want to move to District Twelve.

"Blaine," he started. "You don't want to live in District Twelve. It's poorer than dirt." Blaine laughed and clutched Kurt's hand tighter.

"A few things Kurt. One, when I'm with you I feel like the richest man in the world." And Kurt smiled even though the line was cheesy. "Two, I can't stand to live in a district that's blind enough to see their alliance with the Capitol doesn't get them anywhere. Three, District Twelve may be poor but we'll be well taken care of now," he went on. He paused and drew a breath. "And four," he said, getting out of his seat and kneeling down on the floor, causing Kurt to widen his eyes again. "I would be honored to call you my husband."

Kurt's breath hitched at the whispered words and he stared down at Blaine. This was beginning to feel like a little too much. After all, Kurt was only seventeen and Blaine sixteen. Wasn't this a little soon? But they also knew they had forever now. Having had survived the Games, they would never have to fear the possibility of being reaped again.

"Are…are you proposing Blaine?" Kurt asked in a voice he was surprised was there at all. The smile on Blaine's face was so incredibly beautiful.

He slowly stood from the floor and took Kurt's other hand in his. "Not officially," he said and Kurt relaxed just a little bit. "Not yet anyway. We may have our whole lives together to look forward to now but we're still just teenagers." He paused and bit his lip, looking deeply into Kurt's eyes. "But that was my way of saying that I intend to spend forever with you."

Kurt felt his breath hitch in his throat yet again. "I intend to spend forever with you too," he replied. And the two of them shared a loving kiss, with Blaine wrapping Kurt tightly in his arms. Because he loved this boy so much.

And so the tour began, the train deliberately skipping districts Two and Twelve for last. The people in the districts cheered for both boys equally. Some even prodded for them to kiss for them. And so they did. They shared sweet kisses between the districts and at the districts and listened to the people cheer louder.

Despite the fact that what they had done had not seemed to change the revolution so the Hunger Games were no more, they did make an impact on Panem and changed its citizens for the better. And even the victors were thankful to them for the changes they had granted at least in that area of the law.

There was something about being able to freely travel between districts that made life a little easier for those who had faced the horror of the arena and lived to tell the tale.

Instead of going from District Eleven, where Kurt met Mercedes' family and gave them his condolences and apologized that he hadn't been fast enough to save their daughter, to District Twelve, the train backtracked to District Two first, deciding to keep in numerical order.

Blaine was clinging to Kurt's hand ever the tighter, as the train slowly rolled into the station. Truth be told, he was terrified. About meeting his family, about seeing how his district would treat him after he had criticized them for being blind, about everything in general.

But it seemed that Blaine had next to nothing to worry about fore the cheers that greeted them the moment they stepped off the train were the most deafening yet.

"Ladies and gentlemen of District Two," came Emma's voice from beside them. "May I present to you, the victors of the ninety-third annual Hunger Games, Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson!" The crowd erupted into more cheers and right at the front, Blaine saw the four people who mattered most to him.

The first was his brother Cooper who had tears in his eyes and Blaine immediately moved to throw himself into his brother's arms. Cooper held him tightly for several moments, hardly able to believe that here he was, hugging his brother again after he had been so sure he never would.

"You changed so much Blaine, both you and the district," Cooper said as he pulled away. Blaine gave him a curious look and Cooper nodded his head in a certain direction. Blaine followed his gaze to find that the tribute training center was nothing more than a pile of rubble. "We struck it down after the speech you made in the Games. No more allying with the Capitol."

Fresh tears cascaded down Blaine's cheeks and Kurt couldn't help but smile next to him. Blaine grinned wholeheartedly before looking at the woman next to his brother.

His mother. She was standing there looking prouder of him than Blaine had ever seen.

"Mom," Blaine whispered. She sniffed and the boy threw himself into her arms and Kurt felt such a warmth build in his belly.

"I'm so sorry for everything Blaine. Your father," she said and froze. Blaine's face fell as he urged her to go on with his eyes. "Well, he killed himself after he saw that you had allied yourself with non-Careers, filth as he called them." Blaine was taken aback by this news and he stared at his mother for a good long time. But after a moment, he realized he didn't care. If his father could not accept him as he was than he was of no real loss.

Kurt cleared his throat politely and both Cooper and Mrs. Anderson turned to look at him. He graced them both with a soft smile. Blaine grinned widely and held his hand out for Kurt, which the boy took happily.

"Mom, Cooper, this is the boy who saved my life, and also the love of my life, Kurt Hummel," he introduced him. "Kurt, my mom and my brother Cooper."

Kurt stuck out a hand and shook both of theirs kindly. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," he said sweetly.

Mrs. Anderson took both Kurt's hands in hers and clutched them tightly. "Thank you for all you did to get my son back to me alive," she said with a sniff.

Kurt looked over at Blaine. "We helped each other Mrs. Anderson," he said with a fond look on his face. She smiled at that and released his hands, only for Cooper to throw his arms around Kurt and hug him tightly. This surprised Kurt but he accepted the warm hug and returned it.

"Mom, Coop," Blaine started again when Kurt had slid his hand back into his. "I've decided I'm moving to District Twelve, to be with Kurt." He looked at Kurt with a small smile and Kurt smiled back.

"I'd expect nothing less," Mrs. Anderson said with a smile. "Just come see us once in a while, yeah?" Blaine nodded. "Both of you?"

Kurt and Blaine exchanged a glance. "Absolutely mom," Blaine finally replied and Mrs. Anderson smiled wider. The Andersons and Kurt hugged again before Blaine turned his attention to the two other people who mattered to him, who were waiting patiently for Blaine to reunite with his family first.

"Mr. and Mr. Berry," Blaine said gently moving to wrap each of the two men in his arms and Kurt realized with a jolt that these were Rachel's parents. "I'm so sorry for your loss," the curly-haired boy went on, pulling away from the two men. Kurt merely nodded his condolences. He didn't know these men. It wasn't his place.

"It's okay Blaine. She fought valiantly and we couldn't be prouder of her for all the steps she took to improve herself in that arena," Hiram replied.

"She'll always be our little girl," LeRoy added and Kurt smiled sadly. In a way, he felt guilty. It was kind of his fault that Rachel was dead. She had been protecting him when Quinn killed her.

Blaine exchanged a few more words with the Berrys before he and Kurt sat down to enjoy a celebratory feast with District Two. They stayed to mingle a bit and signed a few autographs. Blaine collected a few things from his home and the two of them boarded the train for the last stop on the tour. District Twelve.

Neither boy stopped waving after the train had pulled out of the station until District Two was long since out of sight and Kurt sat there with growing anticipation. Though he hadn't admitted as much to Blaine, he was just as nervous about returning home as his love had been.

Blaine had support from District Two going into the Games. They cared about him. He was popular. He had a lot of friends there as Kurt had since learned. He only began to fear reactions because he had insulted his own district on national television. But he had nothing to fear as it turned out.

Kurt was different. The only real support he had at home was his father. He knew even though they were too polite to show it, the rest of his district could honestly care less if he died in the Games. He was the town homosexual. The majority of them disapproved and he was quite sure most of them had been rooting for Santana if their district were to have a winner.

The Capitol had been different. They hadn't cared that he was gay. They hadn't cared that Blaine was gay. Kurt had been named the underdog of the Games, the Raven Blackbird of District Twelve and the Capitolites had roared with approval. After that kind of support, even though he despised the Capitol, Kurt wasn't sure he wanted to return to the disapproval of his fellow District Twelve citizens.

He could only hope that the honor and the materialistic goods he had earned for the district by winning the Games would be at least a little help. But he wasn't expecting any progress.

His hand clutched his mother's wedding ring which still hung around his neck as he sat there staring out the window of the train car.

"Hey," Blaine said, prompting Kurt to look up. "You okay?" The pale boy sighed and shook his head, glancing down at his lap.

"Not really," he admitted. Blaine took a seat beside him. "District Twelve, they don't really support me. Most of them have never approved of the fact that I'm gay," he explained. "And although they never said as much, I know that they were hoping I would die in the arena."

Blaine was positively stunned by his admission. What kind of district would actually hope for the death of one of their own? And just because of his sexual orientation too? Blaine was starting to think that maybe he hadn't realized how different the poor districts were from the rich ones after all.

He didn't say anything. Didn't encourage Kurt to believe it would be all right. Didn't tell him it would get better. Didn't try to make him believe something that may turn out to be a lie. And he didn't do it because he knew Kurt didn't want him to. For that, Kurt was grateful. Blaine just pulled him into his arms and held him and they stayed like that for the rest of the trip to District Twelve.

Kurt could feel his nerves hiking for the first time in a number of days as the train rolled into the station. He was not surprised to see the crowd gathered around the platform waiting for them. They could very well be there to boo them just as much to cheer them on.

He swallowed heavily and Blaine slipped his hand into Kurt's as they stood up. "You ready for this?" Blaine asked quietly. Kurt drew a deep breath.

"I'll never be ready," he said. "But saying as such is not going to get me out of it." He gave his head a short shake and Blaine squeezed his hand. "Call me crazy but I feel like I'm about to enter the arena all over again." Blaine frowned and placed a chaste kiss to Kurt's cheek just as the train came to a complete stop.

He supposed in a way, returning to a mass of people who didn't approve of your lifestyle and wanted you dead, was just as bad as that feeling of standing on the platform, waiting to be lifted into the place where you might lose your life. But Blaine would never truly know what Kurt was feeling at that moment. He had never experienced being disapproved of. Other than in his own family but that was different than this.

The doors to the train opened and Blaine and Kurt watched Emma walk out. The crowd outside was completely silent. It was a huge contrast to the crowd of District Two and even the other districts. Kurt wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. He clung to Blaine's hand so tightly he was sure he was cutting off the boy's circulation. Sue came out of nowhere and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Ladies and gentlemen of District Twelve," Emma started, "May I present to you the victors of the ninety-third annual Hunger Games, Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel!" Blaine pulled Kurt by the hand, urging him to walk forward and the moment they stepped off the train and into view, the crowd erupted in the loudest cheers and applause Kurt had ever heard in his life. He was completely floored.

Tears were already forming in his eyes as he searched the crowd for the one person that mattered to him here. And then there he was, front and center just as he should be, tears streaming from his own eyes.

Kurt ran forward and threw himself into his dad's arms, allowing his tears to fall finally. Burt clung to him so tightly Kurt was having a bit of trouble getting air to his lungs but he didn't care. He was with his dad again and that was all that mattered.

"Dad," Kurt choked out, face buried in Burt's shoulder. He had never wanted to put his dad through all this and he hated that he hadn't had a choice in the matter.

"You did it kiddo. You came home," Burt replied, voice also choked up. The crowd continued to cheer and applaud and Blaine watched fondly from the platform. He knew how much Kurt's dad meant to him and a part of him was a little bit jealous of their close relationship but a larger part was happy to see Kurt reunited with the man that meant so much to him.

It seemed like an eternity before Kurt and his dad finally broke apart. He wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to face Blaine, holding his hand out to him in much the same way Blaine had done when he introduced Kurt to his mom and brother. Blaine wasted no time in taking his hand.

"Dad," Kurt said, smiling through his tears. "This is Blaine Anderson and he means the world to me. Blaine, this is my dad, Burt Hummel."

"Pleasure to meet you sir," Blaine said politely, sticking out a hand. Burt raised an eyebrow for a moment.

"It's Burt kid. And we hug in his family," he finally said, pulling a startled Blaine into his arms and causing Kurt to burst out laughing. Burt pulled away and looked over at Kurt. "Welcome home kid. They have the house in Victor's Village all ready for you."

Kurt blushed lightly. The thought of moving into that house with Blaine by his side was a bit overwhelming to say the least. But it was going to be home and he would never have to worry about being reaped for the Hunger Games again.

Kurt took a moment to give his condolences to Santana's family, who thanked him for helping her stay alive as long as he possibly could and told him never to be a stranger.

And as they celebrated and rejoiced with the rest of District Twelve, eating a feast the likes of which the rest of the district had never known, Kurt finally came back to himself fully. He was home. He had his dad. He had Blaine. He didn't have to worry about the Games anymore.

Life comes at you fast. It may be long, it may be short, but it still comes at you fast. And all you could do was hold onto every waking moment with your head held high.

And that was exactly what Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson planned to do for the rest of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you for the epilogue tomorrow! Which is actually the shortest chapter of the entire story. And there is a time jump. Don't worry, it's clarified right at that top of the chapter.


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right you guys! Here is the epilogue! The very last chapter of this story! Could there be a sequel? I don't know. We'll see! Like I said, there is a major time jump here. So be aware of that. It's stated right at the top. Also, I'm not sure how much posting I'll be doing for anything for a little why. I leave for California the day after tomorrow and I'll be there into January, spending the holidays and time with my dad. So updating or posting anything new might be slow.
> 
> Anyway, remember comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

**Twenty years later.**

"Dad have you seen my red dress?!" the fourteen year old brunette girl called out through the house.

Kurt came out of his and Blaine's room straightening his tie and sighed heavily, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"Santana Hummel-Anderson, you ask that every year on this day. And every year since you and your sister were twelve, don't I tell you the same thing?" he asked in a bit of a frustrated voice. Blaine followed him out of their room, pulling on his suit jacket.

Santana pouted and looked up at her dad. "But I want to wear the red dress!" she protested with a stomp of her foot. It was kind of strange how even though they had named the twins after their district partners in the Games twenty years earlier, Santana seemed more like Rachel Berry and Rachel seemed more like Santana Lopez. They were opposites of their namesakes.

Kurt sighed again and ran a hand over his face. "Santana, if you wear that red dress you will stick out like a sore thumb."

Santana stuck her nose in the air. "That's the point dad. I want to stick out like a sore thumb," she said resolutely. Kurt groaned heavily and gave his head a bit of a shake. Blaine rested his hand gently on his husband's shoulder.

Kurt was so grateful that Blaine had only been a mentor for the Games for a few years. His district won again quickly, but it meant that he no longer would have to go to District Two for the reaping and they would no longer have to wait until they had both arrived in the Capitol to see each other again. He didn't think he could stomach a reaping with his own children without Blaine by his side.

But it still wasn't any easier. After twenty years, Kurt was still the mentor for District Twelve. Though his district had by no means fallen back to how it had been before the ninety-third Games, Kurt had yet to bring a tribute home alive. At least District Twelve had since established itself as a real contender since Kurt had won. But he still felt a little bit like he was failing his district.

The hardest part was being away from Blaine for an indefinite amount of time when the Games were upon them.

However, things had gotten even more terrifying since the girls came of reaping age. The past two years, Kurt had been just as terrified as he had been back when he was of reaping age. His nightmares of the Games had started coming back. Only now they featured his own daughters in the arena rather than himself and Blaine like they used to.

Kurt knew he really shouldn't worry. Being the children of victors, Santana and Rachel would only have their names entered three times this year, the lowest possible number of entries for fourteen year olds.

Speaking of Rachel, the girl came into the room wearing a mellow blue dress, the perfect color for blending in. "Oh please diva," she said in a bored voice. "The reaping is not somewhere you want to stand out at." She rolled her eyes and twirled in front of her fathers who both smiled at her.

Blaine gestured for both girls to come over to him for a moment while Kurt went to grab a cup of coffee. He was going to have to be at the town square earlier as he was the district victor. Sue was still trucking, though now in her sixties, things weren't quite as easy for her. She had been in great shape back in her forties when she was still acting mentor. Though Kurt was sure she still had it, he was glad she didn't have to mentor tributes anymore.

At thirty-seven, Kurt could hardly believe it had now been twenty years since he and Blaine had won the Hunger Games. And things hadn't exactly been easy street after that. They had both suffered from terrifying nightmares for months on end and they had both been shaken with nerves the first time they were meant to mentor tributes.

Kurt would be lying if he said he had gotten over that they hadn't gotten through to the Capitol at all because he had never gotten over it. He despised the continuation of the Games with each and every year that passed. And now, here he was, facing the third reaping at which his daughters' names would be entered, and feeling that cold fear crawl up his spine.

If Santana or Rachel's names were pulled from that bowl, Kurt's world was going to fall apart. He knew that it would be a huge spectacle and story around Panem if he had to mentor his own daughter for her to survive in the Games.

He prayed it didn't come to that. But this year, this year he was already full of dread. He knew something bad was lurking around the corner but he didn't dare tell Blaine.

And how did he know? He had woken up that morning to find his mother's wedding ring was missing. That was the first sign that nothing about this day was going to be routine. He had looked for it everywhere but he couldn't find it.

The thought had hit him like a freight train. His good luck had finally run out. He swallowed the coffee heavily.

"Blaine love, I'm heading to square now!" he called out. Blaine came running down the stairs quickly, followed by the girls who were now both in blue dresses. How Blaine did it, Kurt would never understand.

Kurt received his husband in the front foyer and kissed him deeply, arms draped over his neck and Blaine's wrapped around his waist. Santana giggled and Rachel rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, 'parents'.

"I love you Blaine Hummel-Anderson," Kurt said when they broke apart. Blaine smiled that same wide smile he had always smiled, ever since the day they had met and pecked a kiss to the corner of Kurt's mouth, causing the pale man to hum in contentment.

"I love you too Kurt Hummel-Anderson," Blaine replied. Kurt leaned in to give him Eskimo kisses and Blaine laughed wholeheartedly. "I'm going to miss you so much love."

Kurt frowned slightly. "I'm going to miss you too honey," he said. "I wish you were coming with me." Blaine sighed and rested his forehead against Kurt's.

"I would if I could babe, you know that. But someone has to watch the girls and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on your father or Sue for that matter," he said and Kurt understood. He really did. But that wasn't going to stop him from wishing Blaine could come with him. "You just have to make sure you bring home a winner this year and then next year, it will be they who have to mentor instead of you."

It was funny how they kind of had this same conversation every year like clockwork. But it happened. Whether they expected it or not, it still happened.

"As much as I would love to stay here with you honey, I really do have to get going," Kurt finally said, placing another sweet kiss to Blaine's lips.

"Mmm," Blaine replied, chasing Kurt's lips. "Love you."

"Love you too honey." With one more kiss and a hug for both the girls, Kurt was out the door.

He strolled along the road that lead out of Victor's Village and to the town square, the tension in his body at an all time high. He still didn't tell Blaine that the ring was missing. He didn't want him to worry. That ring had brought Kurt nothing but luck so far and with it gone on the morning of the twins' third reaping, that was a major red flag. He tried not to think about it

The familiar setup of the stage and the roped off sections for the kids came into view and Kurt took notice of Emma already having arrived. The woman was about fifty now but after all this time, she was still the escort for District Twelve. Once upon a time she had begged for a better district and now, she begged never to be transferred from Twelve. She would be their escort until her retirement.

"Hi Kurt," she offered in greeting as he approached her. He offered her the faintest of smiles. Emma was no stranger to his sullen mood on Reaping Day. It had grown heavier when his daughters became eligible. Still today was the heaviest she had ever seen it. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Kurt drew a breath. "I didn't tell Blaine because I didn't want to worry him but I woke up to find my mother's ring missing." Emma gasped slightly. After knowing Kurt since the day he had been reaped himself, she was well aware of what that ring meant for him.

"You're worried about the girls," she whispered knowingly.

"More so than usual," he admitted. Emma patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"Well, if one of them does get reaped, I know you'll bring her home safe. You have always been such a fiercely protective father." Kurt couldn't help but smile at that. Her words gave him some semblance of hope. She was right of course. If one of the girls ended up being a tribute, he would fight tooth and nail to make sure she got out of there alive. He would not lose his children, especially not in the same way he and Blaine had lost their namesakes.

Time seemed to blur into nothing and before Kurt knew it, he was sitting on the stage, looking out at the grouped children, spotting the twins in the fourteen year old female section and Blaine standing behind the barrier next to Burt Hummel and Sue Sylvester.

The mayor was droning on and on with the usual introduction. Kurt always tuned him out every year. His hands were bunched into his pants and he was well aware that he looked even paler than usual. He only hoped Blaine couldn't tell from his spot behind the barrier at the back of the square.

Emma was introduced and she gave Kurt's shoulder a comforting squeeze as she stood and approached the microphone.

"Happy Hunger Games!" she gave her usual greeting. "And now for the choosing of this year's tributes. As always, ladies first!"

Kurt held his breath, even though something in him already knew it was no use. It was almost the same he had felt when he had known his own name was about to come out of the bowl.

He watched Emma reach her hand into the glass bowl. A total of six slips of paper with his daughters' names on them, three apiece, were in that bowl. And though they had the lowest chance of any fourteen year old girl, Kurt just knew that this year, the odds were not in their favor. The disappearance of his mother's ring was enough to tell him that.

Emma's fingers swirled around in the bowl for a moment, mixing the names up just as she had always done. And then they closed around one of the slips of paper and she slowly pulled it out and unfolded it. Emma's whole body tensed up at the sight of the name on the paper and Kurt knew to expect the worst. The question was, which one was it?

Emma cleared her throat and called out, "Santana Hummel-Anderson." Kurt felt his whole world fall apart and he tried to keep himself together.

A collective gasp went up around the square. Back at the barrier, Kurt could see Blaine and his dad trying to hold each other up, to keep from collapsing. The same fear was coursing through him and he was just glad he was sitting down. The worst thing was that if Santana went into the arena, he would be putting his father through indefinite terror for a second time and the scary part was Kurt wasn't sure if he would live through it again.

"I volunteer!" shouted a voice. And Kurt's eyes went wide as saucers as they fell on his other daughter. Rachel had grabbed a hold of her sister's wrist as Santana had just begun to start walking toward the stage.

"Rachel don't," Santana said but Rachel shook her head defiantly.

"No. I'm the older one. It's my job to protect you and I refuse to let you go into that arena!" she said firmly. She raised her head and stood with it held high. "I volunteer as tribute!" Santana opened her mouth to protest but shut it as Emma gave a slight nod of her head.

Rachel made her way out of the section and continued walking toward the stage with her head held high. In that moment, she reminded Kurt so much of how Santana had looked walking up to the stage the day they had been reaped and just in that, he knew she was going to be okay.

She had the same fire and bite that Santana had about her. As long as she didn't go after a tribute much bigger than her with her bare hands, Kurt was certain he could make a winner out of his daughter.

The entire district was utterly silent as Rachel moved to stand on the stage beside Emma who gave her a sympathetic look. Just for the fact that she was the daughter of District Twelve's mentor, all of Panem would be watching her closely. She likely already had a target over her head. Being a victor's kid made you the one to beat, no matter what district you were from.

Kurt barely heard the rest of the reaping. His mind was lost in thoughts and he was struggling not to let the tears cascade down his cheeks.

"District Twelve, your tributes for the one hundred and thirteenth Hunger Games, Rachel Hummel-Anderson and Chandler Kiehl!" Emma finished, bringing Kurt's attention back to her.

And he knew in that moment that he would do everything in his power to bring his daughter home, while at the same time trying to keep Chandler alive decently long enough so that it didn't look like he was favoring helping his daughter by default. But he had done everything in his power to bring both himself and Blaine home twenty years earlier and he could do it again.

Perhaps this time, he would end the Hunger Games for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I want to take a moment again to thank all of you for reading this story. I had so much fun writing it and I was so excited about it. Also, if you're interested in being a beta for me, let me know in a comment. Again, I'd give you my tumblr but I don't actually use it.
> 
> So I hope you all enjoyed this journey as much as I did. And technically, it started over a year ago, back in April last year if I remember right. So it feels like a real accomplishment for me to finish it. I'm not like a lot of writers online. I don't have a mass of fan fic writing friends to cheer me on and listen to me rant and help me plan things. I just have my dad, who I have to thank too because he reads everything I write, even the explicit stuff. So kudos to him because when it comes to writing he's always been my biggest supporter.
> 
> Once more, I hope you all enjoyed and until next time, Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor! :)


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